Visitors to London (2)

Keith Prince: How are you monitoring London’s performance for tourism to ensure London meets it’s visitor targets?

The Mayor: International visitors to London are monitored by the Office for National Statistics through the International Passenger Survey.

Missing people reports while abroad

Andrew Boff: For each of the years Oct 16 to Sep 17, Oct 17 to Sep 18 and Oct 18 to Sep 19, please could you provide the reports that the Met have received of the number people going missing while abroad, broken down by gender?

The Mayor: This does not fall under the remit of the Met, the Foreign Office deal with these missing persons cases.

London Plan Inspectors' Report

Andrew Boff: When will you be publishing the Inspectors’ Report from the London Plan Examination in Public?

The Mayor: I published the Inspectors’ Report on the London Plan examination in public on Friday 18 October.

GLA Housing Completions

Andrew Boff: Of the GLA-funded affordable homes started since 2016/17, how many have been completed? Please provide a breakdown by borough and number of bedrooms.

The Mayor: A response to this request will be compiled and provided as soon as possible.

Female Victims in Gang Flagged Crimes

Florence Eshalomi: Please provide details of gang flagged crimes with a female victim since 2014. Please provide a borough-by-borough breakdown of the numbers for each year.

The Mayor: Please see Mayor's Question 2019/19974 for the requested data.

Female Offenders in Gang Flagged Crimes

Florence Eshalomi: Please provide details of gang flagged crimes with a female offender since 2014. Please provide a borough-by-borough breakdown of the numbers for each year.

The Mayor: Please see attached the requested data for Mayor's Question 2019/19974 and 2019/19975 covering the period specified.

The London Plan and electric charging points

Caroline Pidgeon: In response to Question 2018/0027 in May 2018 you stated:
“Policy T6.1 in the new draft London Plan introduces a new measurable requirement for 20% of parking spaces in new residential developments to have active charging facilities. It is also one of my Chief Digital Officer’s actions for his forthcoming London Office of Technology and Innovation to investigate this issue”.
What steps have been taken by the Chief Digital Officer on this front? Are you now able to effectively monitor the implementation of this requirement?

The Mayor: In order to effectively monitor the implementation of draft London Plan Policy T6.1, the London Development Database (LDD) is updating its technical planning data standard to include the number and type of charge points proposed for a development. This is currently out for agreement by Borough Leaders. Subject to this agreement, the ongoing LDD automation project will automate the collection of this data and allow it to be more accessible to all Londoners from spring 2020.
Alongside this work, the London Office of Technology and Innovation has been involved in trials of novel electric vehicle charge point solutions and continues to facilitate wider discussions with local authorities on the role of smart infrastructure, including charging infrastructure.

Trident Gender Balance

Florence Eshalomi: Please provide details of the gender breakdown of Metropolitan officers within Trident.

The Mayor: The MPS publish workforce data reports on a monthly basis here - https://www.met.police.uk/sd/stats-and-data/met/workforce-data-report/
These reports include a breakdown of both gender, OCU and business group and will answer your question.

Met Gender Balance

Florence Eshalomi: Please provide details of the gender breakdown of Metropolitan Police officers. Please can you also provide details of the gender breakdown of each Basic Command Unit?

The Mayor: The MPS publish workforce data reports on a monthly basis here - https://www.met.police.uk/sd/stats-and-data/met/workforce-data-report/
These reports include a breakdown of both gender, OCU and business group and will answer your question.

Rescue and Response Referrals

Florence Eshalomi: Are all those arrested for county lines activity automatically reported to Rescue and Response for support? How does this happen?

The Mayor: There is no flag on the National Strategy for Police Information Systems Custody (NSPIS) to identify county lines arrests, therefore it is not possible to automatically report to Rescue and Response. In many cases arrests are made for drug supply or modern slavery and intelligence is used to inform whether or not the arrest is in relation to county lines. Rescue and Response works closely with local authorities and policing teams, as well as the National County Lines Coordination Centre, to cross-check data and facilitate referrals to the service.

Female County Lines Arrests

Florence Eshalomi: Please provide the numbers of county lines arrests that have been made in each of the following years: 2014, 2015, 2016,2017,2018 and 2019 to date. Please provide a breakdown by age and gender.

The Mayor: This question cannot be answered as there is no flag on National Strategy for Police Information Systems Custody (NSPIS) to identify county lines arrests. In many cases arrests are made for drug supply or modern slavery and intelligence is used to inform whether or not the arrest is in relation to county lines.

Night Time Enterprise Zone (4)

Leonie Cooper: Will the GLA or Waltham Forest be responsible for implementing and managing the first Night Time Enterprise Zone?

The Mayor: The London Borough of Waltham Forest will be responsible for implementing and managing the Night Time Enterprise Zone pilot project.
Learning from the pilot will be shared with the Night Time Borough Champions network, supporting boroughs with the development of their Night Time Strategies.

Night Time Enterprise Zone (5)

Leonie Cooper: Will you be working with the London Borough of Waltham Forest to ensure workers in the Night-Time Enterprise Zone are paid the London Living Wage and adhere to good working practices?

The Mayor: Yes. In November 2018, the GLA published ‘London at Night’, the most comprehensive research on London at night. This research showed that at least half a million people working at night earn below the London Living Wage. I am clear that employers must step up and ensure the welfare of their employees by paying the London Living Wage.
One of the aims of the Night Time Enterprise Zone pilot in Walthamstow High Street is to support good work standards for night workers. London Borough of Waltham Forest will engage with evening and night time workers and local businesses to better understand issues, constraints and opportunities and encourage the London Living Wage. Learning will be shared through my Night Time Borough Champions network, informing policy and practice across London.

Night Time Enterprise Zone (1)

Leonie Cooper: How will you be evaluating whether the pilot of the first Night Time Enterprise Zone was successful and what are the key measures of success?

The Mayor: The aims of the Night Time Enterprise Zone pilot project are to revive London’s high streets with increased activity after 6pm; give Londoners better access to their city after 6pm and support good work standards for night workers. This pilot will take place on Walthamstow High Street.
The London Borough of Waltham Forest has designed pilot activities to meet these aims including establishing a new fund to help business and community groups host events after 6pm and offering entrepreneurs low-cost and flexible business spaces to hire in the evenings. Waltham Forest will evaluate this pilot activity and produce a final report, action plan and case studies. This learning will be shared with the Night Time Borough Champions network, supporting boroughs with the development of their Night Time Strategies.
Key performance indicators set out in the grant funding agreement between the GLA and the London Borough of Waltham Forest include:

Night Time Enterprise Zone (2)

Leonie Cooper: When do you expect the first evaluation of the Night Time Enterprise Zone?

The Mayor: Walthamstow High Street’s Night Time Enterprise Zone is a pilot project and I expect the evaluation to be completed in Spring 2020.

Night Time Enterprise Zone (3)

Leonie Cooper: If successful, when do you expect to implement a full programme supporting London’s high streets at night?

The Mayor: Walthamstow High Street’s Night Time Enterprise Zone is a pilot project through which we will explore the potential of future zones in London. Future implementation of Night Time Enterprise Zones, and the timing of this, will be informed by the outcomes of the pilot.
Through their evaluation, London Borough of Waltham Forest will deliver a report, action plan and case studies. This learning will be shared with the Night Time Borough Champions network, supporting boroughs with the development of their Night Time Strategies.
My Culture and Creative Industries and Regeneration teams will also work closely to ensure the findings feed into the GLA’s work to support and develop high streets. My Regeneration team works across the GLA, with industry and with my Design Advocates to showcase local innovation and experimentation. They highlight best practice that supports boroughs, business and communities in the formation of forward-thinking high street and town centre strategies.

Leap

Leonie Cooper: When will the Energy Leap interventions be installed and when will you be in a position to assess the resulting reduction in carbon dioxide emissions?

The Mayor: Housing and solution providers have been selected through robust grant and procurement processes. Tenants have been engaged, properties have been selected and a design is being developed. We expect the Energy Leap interventions to be installed in Spring 2020.
Energy consumption data will be metered and monitored on an ongoing basis and carbon savings will be evaluated following installation of energy efficiency measures. Initial results are anticipated no earlier than three months after installation.

TriFOCAL

Leonie Cooper: What will be the consequences for the resource bank in London, following the TRiFOCAL programme, if the UK exits the EU without a deal?

The Mayor: Trifocal is an EU LIFE funded programme run in partnership with London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB), the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and Groundwork London. Trifocal has 11 replication locations across Europe where lessons learnt and best practice is shared (http://resources.trifocal.eu.com/).
The primary objectives of Trifocal are to reduce food waste, promote healthy and sustainable eating and increase the amount of inedible food waste being recycled. The programme has worked with communities, schools, businesses and households all of which is being evaluated and best practice and materials will be added to a resource bank. The Project ends on 31 January 2020.
The resource bank will be available for 5 years beyond the end of the project. A no-deal Brexit would not affect London and other cities accessing the resource bank.

Solar Together London (2)

Caroline Russell: Are you satisfied with the total of 624 solar panels installed during phases 1 and 2 of the Solar Together programme launched in 2018?

The Mayor: London is a challenging environment to install solar; with limited roof space, overshadowing issues, 50 per centflatted properties, prevalence of conservation areas and 28 per centof homes being privately rented.
The 624 installations (which equates to around 1.4MW of solar generation) were achieved despite the Government’s swingeing 65 per centcut to the Feed-in Tariff in 2016, announced just days after it agreed to move swiftly to a low-carbon future at the landmark climate change conference in Paris.
Despite these challenges, analysis of Ofgem data shows that participating boroughs saw an average year-on-year increase of 78 per centin solar installations during the installation period of phase 1 and 2 of Solar Together, compared with a 3 per centdecrease in non-participating boroughs.
My third phase of the scheme is a positive step forward in building on the success to date and I will continue to lobby for the cohesive national policy desperately required to help further unlock London’s solar energy potential.

LLDC housing (1)

Navin Shah: Can you provide an update on the LLDC housing development delivery of 24,000 homes by 2031?

The Mayor: London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC)’s adopted Local Plan sets out an expectation of 24,000 homes to be delivered within the Legacy Corporation area by 2031. This target has been revised with the publication of the Draft Revised Local Plan, which anticipates that 33,000 homes are to be delivered by 2036. By the end of the year, 9,973 homes are expected to have already been completed across LLDC’s wider area.
Under the adopted Local Plan, LLDC have a target of 1,471 housing completions per year. Between 2014 and 2018, 7,716 homes were completed – or 105% of the target for this period.

LLDC housing (2)

Navin Shah: The LLDC Corporate Performance Report says there is a “Risk relating to future housing development delivery”. Can you outline what the risk is and what the mitigations are?

The Mayor: LLDC’s plans include delivery of housing developments (with mixed use and community facilities) on LLDC land at Pudding Mill Lane, Rick Roberts Way, Stratford Waterfront and Hackney Wick. As withall housing development of this scale across London there are risks relating to the wider financial and political climate. These include Brexit (which impacts on the cost and availability of labour and materials in particular) and changes to market demand and house prices, all of which impact on the timing of delivery and level of housing receipts.
To mitigate against this, LLDC are working closely with my housing team to deliver a housing strategy in line with my policy requirements, that ensures optimal delivery structures are agreed for each development and attractive opportunities are presented to the market to stimulate interest from developers. It will also ensure market conditions are understood and monitored and that all relevant stakeholders, including relevant local boroughs, landowners and local residents are engaged.

LLDC housing (3)

Navin Shah: In 2018 the LLDC said that 29% of the housing on the park was affordable, while 26% across the whole LLDC area was. What are the latest figures?

The Mayor: Between 2014 and 2018, 7,716 homes have been completed across LLDC’s wider planning area. Of these, 1,841 homes are affordable. Currently around 4,500 new homes are under construction of which 2,257 homes are expected to be completed by the end of the year, including 417 affordable units. This is 23 per cent of total housing delivery being affordable between 2014 and 2019.
There are a number of factors, including implementation of historic planning permissions e.g. Sugar House Island, which affect the provision of affordable housing to date. From 2017 schemes which have been granted approval are generally achieving at least 35 per cent affordable housing in accordance with my affordable housing policy and guidance.
On the Park, 3,765 homes have been completed (including East Village) since 2014. Of these, 1,481 are affordable – 39 per cent of total housing delivery. This includes 466 homes at Chobham Manor, one of two LLDC neighbourhoods which are now on site. Once complete, Chobham Manor and East Wick and Sweetwater will deliver around 30 per cent affordable housing. I have also stepped in to ensure that 50 per cent affordable housing can be provided across the three remaining legacy sites – Stratford Waterfront, Pudding Mill Lane and Rick Roberts Way.

LLDC housing (4)

Navin Shah: What is the LLDC target for low cost rent in the current local plan? And what levels of low-cost rent have been achieved to date on the park and wider LLDC area?

The Mayor: As set out in the current local plan, affordable housing will be maximised on sites capable of providing ten units or more, broken down as 60 per cent Affordable Rent and Social Rent (Low Cost Rented Housing) and 40 per cent Intermediate.
As part of the Stratford Waterfront planning consent, Stratford Waterfront, Pudding Mill Lane and Rick Roberts Way form part of a portfolio of sites, across which 50 per cent affordable housing is to be provided. The tenure split across the three sites is 30 per cent as Low Cost Rented Housing and the remainder as Intermediate Housing.
Across the wider LLDC area of the total delivered affordable homes, including those anticipated to be completed by the end of the year, 50 per cent of homes are Affordable Rent and Social Rent (Low Cost Rented Housing), and 50 per cent Intermediate.

East Bank

Navin Shah: How concerned are you about the corporate risks and issues to the project, that have been identified by the LLDC Audit Committee?

The Mayor: While there are inherent risks in any major construction project - not least because of current challenges in the construction market and the uncertainty around Brexit - LLDC have a three-line assurance process to seek to identify risks and issues early with the East Bank project so that mitigating actions can be taken. There is close working between LLDC and Mace, the construction managers on the project, as well as regular analysis of costs and risks with external assurance support as required, and an independently chaired risk and assurance board that monitors progress.

LFB fire safety deep-dive (1)

Andrew Dismore: Over what time period was the in-depth audit of fire-engineered buildings carried out by London Fire Brigade, as referenced in response to my question 2019/17644?

The Mayor: Twenty audits were carried out between May 2016 and May 2019, with the majority having been carried out 2018/2019.

LFB fire safety deep-dive (2)

Andrew Dismore: The audit of buildings referenced in response to my question 2019/17644 involved a review of 20 buildings. Which boroughs were these buildings located in?

The Mayor: The audits were carried out in the following boroughs:
Borough
Number of deep dive fire safety audits carried out
Tower Hamlets
7
Hackney
4
City of London
3
Islington
3
Lambeth
1
Redbridge
1
Brent
1

LFB fire safety deep-dive (3)

Andrew Dismore: What was the total number of dwellings contained in the twenty buildings where London Fire Brigade conducted a deep-dive fire safety audit?

The Mayor: The number of dwellings (i.e. individual flats) was not specifically captured for the purpose of this program of audits. The engineered solutions which were the focus of the audits related to the protection of the common parts, as these are the areas to which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies. For the same reason, this information is not automatically required by our fire safety inspection records. However, most of the residential flats were large, high rise and the total number was in the region of several hundred.

Pubs in London

Leonie Cooper: What support have you provided London’s pubs in order for the number of pubs in London to remain stable between 2017 and 2018?

The Mayor: My 2019 annual pubs audit confirmed that the number of London pubs remained stable between 2017 and 2018 for the first time since 2001. My draft London Plan gives the strongest ever protection to London’s pubs encouraging boroughs to protect them. The Agent of Change principle requires that new developments near pubs minimise the impact of noise through adequate soundproofing.
My Culture at Risk Office has supported over 350 cultural spaces including pubs since 2016. It helped save community pubs such as The George Tavern in Tower Hamlets and The Bird's Nest in Lewisham. I have partnered with the Campaign for Real Ale to include pubs on my new Cultural Infrastructure Map. This provides improved visibility of pubs across London for planning authorities and Londoners. I have also supported the True Craft Tap House, a Victorian pub in Tottenham through my Opportunity Investment Fund.
I continue to call on the Government to use its powers on planning, taxation and regulation to support pubs.

LFB fire safety deep-dive (5)

Andrew Dismore: How many of the 20 buildings inspected by London Fire Brigade during its fire safety deep-dive were a) residential and b) other uses?

The Mayor: The make up based on usage time based on the information available at the time was:
a) Residential -16 which consists of 13 residential flat buildings, 1 serviced apartment building, 1 hotel and 1 student accommodation building.
b) Non-residential - 4 which were office buildings.

LFB fire safety deep-dive (6)

Andrew Dismore: Please provide a list of the Responsible Persons who have not yet implemented the engineer’s recommended solutions to the building issues identified in the fire-safety deep dive.

The Mayor: All issues and recommendations were dealt with at the time of inspection or soon after.

Cladding remediation supply chain

Andrew Dismore: What assessment have you made of the impact of a no-deal Brexit on the supply of materials and labour for remediating ACM cladding on tall buildings?

The Mayor: Research about London’s construction industry shows that the sector relies heavily on trained EU workers and EU imported materials. A no-deal Brexit is likely to disturb the supply and importation of materials and labour for remediating ACM cladding on tall buildings. My team has raised the potential impact of a no-deal Brexit on the Private and Social Sector Cladding Remediation Funds to Government officials. I will continue to call for the British public to be given a final say on Brexit and I will campaign for us to remain.

Completion target for cladding remediation

Andrew Dismore: In response to my question 2019/17632 regarding the government’s target for cladding remediation, you described the deadlines as “irresponsible and unrealistic”. Has the government now indicated it no longer holds these dates as targets for completion?

The Mayor: As far as I am aware, the Government still holds these targets dates. My team has repeatedly raised with officials that they are unlikely to be met and therefore damaging to public trust in the cladding remediation programmes.

High streets (2)

Leonie Cooper: London’s high streets are experiencing numerous challenges. How are you supporting businesses on London’s high streets?

The Mayor: Protecting our high streets and retail sector is vital, which is why my draft London Plan and my Economic Development Strategy encourage boroughs to deliver strategies in partnership with local businesses and residents, for the regeneration that London’s high streets and town centres need.
I continue to campaign for the full devolution of business rates, so we can address London’s unique business environment and safeguard businesses and jobs that so many depend on.
£26m of my Good Growth Fund investments have been directed towards high street and town centre improvements. I have reconvened a High Streets Sounding Board including a range of external experts to advise me on how best to address some of the challenges the retail sector is facing.
I have recently funded a Night Time Enterprise Zone pilot project in Walthamstow to help boost the high street with increased activity after 6pm.
Earlier this month, I also launched a range of new, free-to-access support options for London’s small businesses as they prepare for Brexit, via nine new physical London Growth Hubs across the city. The London Growth Hub brings together the capital’s business support offer into a single online resource and is now being expanded to also offer in-person support.

High streets (1)

Leonie Cooper: What challenges are London’s high streets facing?

The Mayor: The traditional high street and its civic, social and economic mix has been changing and, in many instances, coming under pressure. This is due to a range of factors including: the spread of internet retailing; the current business rates system which places an unfair burden on the small and medium-sized businesses that call London’s high streets home; and fragmented management and property ownership which presents challenges to strategic and decisive action to diversify and reinvigorate the high street offer. However, high streets have demonstrated themselves to be inherently flexible, adaptable and robust. They can be places of innovation and experimentation, hosting a diversity of activity and uses, within which retail is just one.

A5 planning restrictions

Onkar Sahota: Which boroughs have introduced A5 (hot food takeaway) planning restrictions within 400m of schools, and what steps are you taking to encourage all boroughs to do so?

The Mayor: A number of London boroughs have introduced planning restrictions on new hot food takeaways within close proximity of schools. These include Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Redbridge, Richmond-upon-Thames, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Wandsworth.
My draft London Plan includes a policy which seeks to restrict hot food takeaways within 400m of schools and encourages boroughs to manage the over-concentration of these uses outside of these areas through the use of locally-defined thresholds in their local plans. This aligns fully with the London Food Strategy and Health Inequalities Strategy – both of which reflect my objectives of giving Londoners the best possible start in life and ensuring Londoners have access to healthy food. Once the London Plan is adopted, this policy will apply to proposals for new hot food takeaways across the capital.

High streets (5)

Leonie Cooper: Can you break this down the number of shops closed since 2010 by high street and borough?

The Mayor: As part of my forthcoming Good Growth by Design (GGbD) guidance called High Streets – Adaptive Strategies my Regeneration and Intelligence teams are working together with industry representatives and my Mayor’s Design Advocates, to understand existing challenges and opportunities for high streets and town centres.
My City Intelligence Unit is securing access to the most recent data from the Local Data Company to record the classification of each shop (which includes vacant units) and will make sure this question is addressed as part of our programme of work.

High streets (4)

Leonie Cooper: How many shop closures have London’s high streets seen since 2010? Can you break this down by year?

The Mayor: As part of my forthcoming Good Growth by Design (GGbD) guidance called High Streets – Adaptive Strategies my Regeneration and Intelligence teams are working together with industry representatives and my Mayor’s Design Advocates, to understand existing challenges and opportunities for high streets and town centres.
My City Intelligence Unit is securing access to the most recent data from the Local Data Company to record the classification of each shop (which includes vacant units) and will make sure this question is addressed as part of our programme of work.

High streets (3)

Leonie Cooper: Can you provide the number of empty shop fronts on London’s high streets, by borough?

The Mayor: As part of my forthcoming Good Growth by Design (GGbD) guidance called High Streets – Adaptive Strategies my Regeneration and Intelligence teams are working together with industry representatives and the Mayor’s Design Advocates, to understand existing challenges and opportunities for high streets and town centres.
My City Intelligence Unit is securing access to the most recent data from the Local Data Company to record the classification of each shop (which includes vacant units) and will make sure this question is addressed as part of our programme of work.
In the meantime, as I set out in my answer to Mayor's Question 2019/17721, the London Town Centre Health Check Analysis Report provides an analysis of the town centres in the London Plan, and is accompanied by a technical appendix which provides data for each town centre including the number of vacant retail units.
Town Centre Health Check Analysis Report: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2017_london_town_centre_he...
Town Centre Health Check Technical Analysis:https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-town-centre-health-check-analy...

LLDC Income (4)

Navin Shah: Do you expect the various venues on the LLDC to be self-financing in the future?

The Mayor: The aim is to reduce the subsidy required for the venues on the Park as much as possible, however it should be noted that like many public facilities they do require support. As part of the transition planning I share the commitment of LLDC’s board that Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park should be treated as a ‘great estate’ rather than considered piecemeal. This may entail cross subsidy between venues and other sources of income and is being considered as part of the preparation of the transition strategy.

LLDC Income (3)

Navin Shah: When do you expect the LLDC to reach a breakeven financial position? Do you expect the LLDC to be viable in the long term?

The Mayor: Further to the answer provided to Mayor’s Question 2019/20029, the GLA is funding LLDC to stimulate the regeneration of their area, delivering a wide range of benefits for Londoners including new homes and jobs. New developments on and around the Park will generate around £200 million of additional council tax and business rates per annum by the end of the 2030s. LLDC will continue to require subsidy to fund their activities. The long-term position is being reviewed as part of the transition strategy that is currently being prepared.

LLDC Income (2)

Navin Shah: The LLDC Quarterly Corporate Performance Report for January to March 2019 says the, “trajectory to be operating in a break-even position by 2025 is under pressure due to the impact of the changing housing strategy”. What has changed about the housing strategy that is putting pressure on your finances?

The Mayor: The LLDC derives income from a number of external sources including revenue from venues, off and on park properties, as well as from the GLA. A key element of income generated is received from the Fixed Estate Charge (FEC) which is due to grow as homes and businesses are completed on their land. The amount of affordable housing to be delivered on LLDC’s remaining three sites (Pudding Mill, Stratford Waterfront and Rick Roberts Way) has been increased to 50 per cent in line with my commitments on affordable housing. Increasing affordable housing decreases the amount of FEC that can be collected. More information on the FEC is available here: https://www.queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/the-park/homes-and-living/fixed-estate-charge. Additionally, any delays or changes to the profiled delivery of homes on LLDC owned land will impact the timing of FEC receipts.

LLDC Income (1)

Navin Shah: The LLDC Quarterly Corporate Performance Report for January to March 2019 says there is a, “Risk relating to capital and revenue income”. Can you outline what the risk is and what the mitigations are?

The Mayor: LLDC expects to derive significant future capital receipts from the disposal of land and property on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. These anticipated receipts are subject to risks inherent to the real estate sector, such as changes in market demand and house prices.
LLDC’s revenue income is derived from a number of sources, including its venues and attractions and the Fixed Estate Charge (FEC). These sources of income are subject to risks such as customer/user demand and the changes to LLDC’s development programmes (which can affect the timing of FEC income).
To help mitigate the above risks LLDC takes a range of actions, including close monitoring of market conditions, close working with the GLA, agreeing a housing strategy and ensuring propositions are attractive to the market and customers/users (in respect of the venues and attractions).

LLDC Transition

Navin Shah: When do you expect to publish information on what the LLDC Transition will look like?

The Mayor: The LLDC Board and staff are currently working on developing the transition strategy, in close partnership with the four neighbouring boroughs. I expect the strategy to be presented to me by March 2020, following my review this will then be shared publicly.

Pace of construction of homes on NHS land (2)

Onkar Sahota: How many homes on ex NHS land have started construction in London?

The Mayor: The GLA does not collect this data. Based on information in the Government’s Public Sector Progress Report, May 2019 (see Mayor's Question 2019/20021) there were 161 homes started but not completed and 1,160 home completed.

Pace of construction of homes on NHS land (1)

Onkar Sahota: What is the average time between planning permission being granted and construction beginning for homes on ex NHS land?

The Mayor: The GLA does not collect this data. The Government’s Public Sector Progress Report, May 2019, shows progress on sites sold through the previous programme (2011 – 2015) and current programme (up to end of March 2018) for Department of Health and Social Care sites in London. Where data is available, this indicates the quickest time from grant of planning consent to start on site was nine months and the longest was three years and 11 months.

Cycling Hoops (1)

Tony Devenish: Broken down by borough, how many additional cycling hoops has TfL financed every year over the last five years?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) supplies significant funding to the London boroughs every year to deliver the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, including providing cycle parking. During the period 2014/15 to 2018/19, the boroughs have reported delivery of over 17,500 cycle parking spaces, which are displayed broken down by year and borough on the accompanying spreadsheet. Note that these are not figures for a specific type of cycle parking. Boroughs use a number of mechanisms to deliver cycle parking, including requiring off-street cycle parking as part of new developments. This therefore is only a partial figure for all cycle parking delivered over this time period.
This year, as part of the Cycle Parking Implementation Plan, TfL is committing an additional £2.5m for cycle parking and is actively working with the boroughs to fund delivery across London, including at town centres and train stations.
In addition to this extra help for new cycle parking, TfL has launched the Cycling Infrastructure Database (CID) to map all of the capital’s cycling infrastructure. The database enables TfL to identify areas of highest demand across London and to direct investment accordingly. It suggests around 146,000 cycle parking spaces exist across London.

Private sector remediation fund

Andrew Dismore: Are you aware that to access the private sector remediation fund for ACM cladding removal, every flat owner in a block has to give the Government a ‘state aid‘ declaration; and that with so many properties in blocks owned by non-resident leaseholders, including people living overseas, this is very difficult to achieve. Will you lobby the Government to remove this requirement to enable access to the fund more easily?

The Mayor: The GLA is committed to administering the Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund as quickly as possible in order to ensure buildings are remediated at pace and leaseholders are protected from costs. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government are solely responsible for the scope and design of the fund.
I am aware that collecting declarations from every leaseholder may be challenging. My team are working with the Government to ensure State Aid rules are complied with in a pragmatic way that does not delay approving funding.

Freedom of movement

Andrew Dismore: What have been the benefits of freedom of movement between the EU and London?

The Mayor: London is known across the world for its openness, diversity and innovation. For centuries Londoners have been travelling and settling across Europe and the world, and more than one million European citizens call London home. Throughout history, our city has always been at its best when we’ve been open and inclusive. Our rich history of welcoming people from around the globe makes London what it is – the greatest city in the world.
Earlier this year I wrote to the Home Secretary to highlight the damage that the Government’s current post-Brexit immigration plans could do to London’s economy. I’ll continue making the case for the positive impact that immigration and Freedom of Movement have had in London and the UK.

Cancer incidence among firefighters (5)

Andrew Dismore: How many London Fire Brigade firefighters are currently signed off work where the absence is related to cancer, and what was the figure in each year from 2010 to the present?

The Mayor: Please see the requested data below:
Year
No of operational Staff
2010
11
2011
7
2012
10
2013
4
2014
13
2015
12
2016
4
2017
12
2018
8
2019 to 30/09/19
9
Current sickness absence cases due to Cancer.
1
*data compiled October 2019

Cancer incidence among firefighters (4)

Andrew Dismore: The National Fire Chiefs Council lead for health and safety stated that “firefighters are contracting certain types of cancer above the population norm, I accept that and that is a concern”. However, he also stated that there is no proven connection. Do you agree that recent evidence by Professor Stec and others warrants further urgent research on this matter?

The Mayor: London Fire Brigade (LFB) has agreed that further research is required to demonstrate the causative link between workplace exposures to hazardous substances and any increased incidence of cancers in firefighters. Research is taking place globally on these issues. At present, this research is particularly prevalent in the United States of America but there are also several studies ongoing in the UK that will contribute to LFB’s understanding of the risks. LFB is monitoring this research.

Cancer incidence among firefighters (3)

Andrew Dismore: Will representatives from London Fire Brigade raise results of studies showing increased incidence of cancer among firefighters with relevant individuals on the National Fire Chiefs Council and in the Government?

The Mayor: Firefighter cancers and contamination have been a central focus in the Health and Safety Committee of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) for some time and will continue to be in the future. London Fire Brigade (LFB) has a representative on this committee who is actively engaging in these issues. The NFCC Health and Safety Committee commissioned their own review of the academic literature in this regard, which was published in February 2018, and are continuing to work to better understand the risks to firefighters.

Cancer incidence among firefighters (2)

Andrew Dismore: What work is London Fire Brigade carrying out in light of recent research showing an increased risk of cancer among UK firefighters?

The Mayor: The health, safety and welfare of London’s firefighters is of paramount importance. It is clear that firefighters have increased risk of workplace exposure to certain hazardous substances, both inhaled and absorbed through contamination and that this may lead to increased incidence of certain cancers. London Fire Brigade (LFB) already has a range of control measures in place to mitigate the risks from contamination. These control measures are centred on the general principles of eliminating or minimising exposure to hazardous substances, maintaining cleanliness of operational equipment and personal hygiene. LFB is also initiating a Contaminants Working Group to bring together the relevant stakeholders to continue to monitor these risks and make further improvements to health and safety.

Cancer incidence among firefighters (1)

Andrew Dismore: What is your appraisal of the Stec et al study published in February 2018, demonstrating for the first time a higher incidence of cancer among UK firefighters?

The Mayor: London Fire Brigade (LFB) is familiar with the paper published by Stec et al. in the journal Scientific Reports in February 2018. The aim of the study was to demonstrate the elevated occupational exposure of firefighters to individual carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The researchers found that firefighters were exposed to elevated levels of a number of PAHs. The paper goes on to estimate the risk of developing cancer in firefighters exposed to PAHs using a mathematical model called a ‘cancer slope factor’ but it does not directly demonstrate a higher incidence of cancers in UK firefighters or provide direct evidence of PAHs being causative in any firefighter cancers.

Elena Baturina

Andrew Boff: What is the total amount of money Elena Baturina or her organisation, the Be Open foundation has gifted to City Hall or the Mayors fund for London?

The Mayor: The GLA has not received any funds directly from Elena Baturina or the BE OPEN Foundation.
The cash grant received by the Greater London Authority from the Mayor’s Fund for the London (MfL) for the London Curriculum Primary Programme was £135,193. This was approved by DD2025 and included funding to the MfL from funds donated by the BE OPEN Foundation.
As the Mayor’s Fund for London is an independent charity neither I nor the GLA hold any further information on donations received by the Mayor’s Fund for London. More information can be obtained through contacting the charity at [emailprotected].

W12 Bus Usage by under 16s

Jennette Arnold: Please provide the percentage of W12 users who use an Oyster Zip card to travel, broken down by year from 2012 onwards.

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) does not hold historic data for bus route usage by card type. However, in 2018, 6.7 per cent of daily passengers (92 of 1,361) used an Oyster Zip card to travel on the W12 bus route.

Trees

Tony Devenish: Would the Mayor provide a breakdown of the types of trees planted since 2016

The Mayor: Since May 2016, I have funded the planting of 175,000 trees, more than the previous Mayor planted over two terms. This month I announced plans to plant a further 95,000 trees this winter.
My funding has supported tree planting in every London borough. These trees have been planted through a range of programmes delivered in partnership with local authorities, environmental organisations, community groups, schools and Londoners.
The type of trees planted in individual projects is primarily a decision for delivery partners and landowners. We provide advice on species choice in line with Forestry Commission guidance on choosing “the right tree for the right place”, taking in to account factors such as size, soil type and allergy risk.
Example species planted through my programmes include: field maple, rowan, cherry, silver birch, hazel, hawthorn, oak, beech, apple, hornbeam. The size of trees planted also varies across projects, from smaller saplings (whips) for woodland creation schemes and tree giveaways, to larger trees (standards) for public realm trees and park planting.

London pro bono development

Tony Devenish: What publicity are you able to give to the excellent Pro Bono Challenge initiative, highlighted in Property Week, to challenge and recognise developers who undertake pro bono development work? Do you agree that improving the image of the development industry in London will help deliver your housing and planning policy goals?

The Mayor: My London Housing Strategy seeks to promote better practice in the development industry which will help deliver my housing and planning goals. I welcome the Pro Bono Challenge initiative which asks companies to commit to at least one new pro bono project. However, it is important to stress that to improve the image of the development industry among local communities, the priority for developers must be to continue to increase the levels of affordable housing provided by their schemes.

205 Bus Usage by Over 60s

Jennette Arnold: Please provide the percentage of 205 users who use a freedom pass or other over 60s bus pass to travel, broken down by year from 2012 onwards.

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) does not hold historic data for bus route usage by card type. However, in 2018, 8.6 per cent of daily passengers (1,740 of 20,140) used a Freedom Pass to travel on the 205 bus route.

205 Bus Usage by under 16s

Jennette Arnold: Please provide the percentage of 205 users who use an Oyster Zip card to travel, broken down by year from 2012 onwards.

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) does not hold historic data for bus route usage by card type. However, in 2018, 5 per cent of daily passengers (1,002 of 20,140) used an Oyster Zip card to travel on the 205 bus route.

W12 Bus Usage by Over 60s

Jennette Arnold: Please provide the percentage of W12 users who use a freedom pass or other over 60s bus pass to travel, broken down by year from 2012 onwards.

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) does not hold historic data for bus route usage by card type. However, in 2018, 35 per cent of daily passengers (477 of 1361) used a Freedom Pass to travel on the W12 bus route.

C40 Cities independent assessment of London's climate trajectory

Caroline Russell: In September 2019, your Deputy Mayor for Transport said in correspondence with the Stop Silvertown Tunnel campaign that: “the [London climate] trajectory has been independently assessed by C40 to be in line with the advice of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with the level of carbon emission reduction required to put us on track to staying within 1.5C global warming.” Could you publish this independent assessment, along with related data and correspondence from the Mayor's office and the C40 Cities group?

The Mayor: The zero carbon pathway in the London Environment Strategy was developed based on detailed independent modelling, funded by C40’s Deadline 2020 pilot programme. The key premise of the Deadline 2020 programme was to outline the pace, scale and prioritisation of action needed to deliver on the objective of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5C.
Arup was commissioned by C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group to conduct an assessment of the London Environment Strategy and other relevant reports against the pillars of the C40 Climate Action Planning Framework (CAPF). The final assessment was published last summer (18 July 2018) and can be found on our website; see appendix 6 in the “Related documents” section of this webpage: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/london-environment-strategy
C40 also confirmed that London has developed what they consider to be a Paris Agreement Compatible Climate Action Plan, their letter of confirmation has also been published on our website, see appendix 7 in the “Related documents” section of this webpage: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/london-environment-strategy.
Our climate strategy and underlying analysis can also be found on our website:
https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/london-environment-strategy
https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/climate-change/climate-action-plan

Morden Town Centre

Leonie Cooper: Could you please update me on progress on improvements planned for Morden Town Centre?

The Mayor: The GLA, the London Borough of Merton, and TfL continue to work together to progress the Morden Town Centre scheme. GLA officers meet with TfL and LB Merton on a monthly basis to ensure that progress on the project is maintained.
We are continuing the due diligence process to ensure the project meets the minimum funding requirements from MHCLG.

Falling windows

Andrew Boff: For each of the years Oct 16 to Sep 17, Oct 17 to Sep 18 and Oct 18 to Sep 19, please can you provide the number of times windows have fallen from high-rise buildings?

The Mayor: The GLA does not hold the requested data.

Greening London’s Hospitals

Leonie Cooper: What plans do you have to work with the NHS to green London’s hospitals and other healthcare sites?

The Mayor: My new London Plan policy on Urban Greening will ensure that any new hospital or healthcare developments include additional greening such as green roofs, green walls, trees or biodiverse landscaping. I am producing guidance on sustainable drainage for hospital grounds as part of my London Sustainable Drainage Action Plan.
My Energy for Londoners RE:FIT programme is currently working with seven NHS Trusts in London, and pursuing more, to retrofit their estate to save energy and carbon. For example the RE:FIT project at St Helier hospital is saving the Trust £1m a year off their energy bill and 27% of carbon emissions.
In addition, my Greener City Fund - which provides £2million per annum for greening projects - has funded the creation of a therapeutic garden at the Maudesley Hospital, and pop-up plant nursery and pocket park at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.

ULEZ 4-month report (1)

Leonie Cooper: Does the ULEZ 4-month report meet your projected reduction in polluting vehicles and is it on track to continue to meet projected targets for reduction in vehicles?

The Mayor: Yes. The ‘four months on’ report showed that overall compliance rate for vehicles in the ULEZ was around 75 per cent, up from 61 per cent in March (congestion charging hours). This means that there were on average 12,524 fewer non-compliant vehicles entering the zone each day.
If you take into account Londoners who decided to comply early following the announcement of the ULEZ in February 2017 there has been a reduction of 63 per cent in the number of non-compliant vehicles, with 39,256 non-compliant vehicles in the zone in July 2019 compared to February 2017. Even before the scheme formally launched there was a measured decrease in roadside NO2 levels of around 20 per cent between February 2017 and April 2019.
I will be publishing further updates soon, including monitoring data that will show the impact of ULEZ on air pollution since the scheme came fully into effect.

London Ambitions and Careers Advice for Young Londoners

Jennette Arnold: Trust for London recently recommended (https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/publications/self-made-sector-working-creative-industries/) a new careers advice and guidance strategy to support young Londoners in the creative sphere. Does London Ambitions meet this ask, and how do you respond?

The Mayor: Following London Ambitions, I launched the Careers for Londoners action plan in 2018. As part of this, I called for devolution of careers advice services to establish a London Careers Service for Londoners of all ages that is fully integrated with London boroughs and local services to support schools and residents.
Next year, I will publish a suite of new careers resources, including films for schools and colleges. The films shine a light on the huge range of jobs in the creative industries and feature diverse young Londoners employed in them to inspire others. These resources will link to national careers strategies including the new Discover Creative Careers website. The website will bring together industry-wide careers information; a UK-wide creative careers programme to reach 60,000 students directly; and a new Discover Creative Careers Week.
These resources will be disseminated in London schools through the London Enterprise Adviser Network (where 23 per centof volunteers are from the creative industries) and via the London Curriculum.

London Living Wage and partnerships with City Hall

Caroline Russell: Do you ensure that any companies you invite to your events and jobs fairs pay at least the London Living Wage to everyone they employ?

The Mayor: In London whilst we are seeing increasing numbers of employers becoming accredited employers – the number has more than doubled since I became Mayor - we still have some way to go.
We host a wide range of events at at City Hall to which organisations across the private, public and voluntary sectors are invited. If we were to impose a ban on attending events at City Hall on any organisation which was not an accredited Living Wage employer we would have to exclude far too many, including for example a number of London Boroughs, universities and other key stakeholders, as well as the vast majority of small businesses in particular. Instead I take the view that using the convening power of the Mayoralty and City Hall to influence and win over more employers to the real Living Wage is a better approach.
Naturally it is particularly important that when job fairs are hosted here, we ensure that we set the right example. That is why, for example, at a recent Workforce Integration Network job fair for the construction sector, my team ensured all of the jobs advertised at the event were paid the London Living Wage or higher. All apprenticeships were paid at least the relevant apprenticeship rate and many were paid the London Living Wage.

Following Up with Secondees of Citizen Integration Initiative

Jennette Arnold: How do you follow up with secondees on the Citizenship Integration Initiative to best equip them to sustain their learnings for the benefit of Londoners?

The Mayor: The Citizenship and Integration Initiative (CII) has brought experts from a wide range of civil society organisations to City Hall to work on the shared aim of making London a more socially integrated city. As well as allowing us to draw on secondees’ expertise, the initiative has provided participants with invaluable policy experience that will stand them in good stead once their secondments end.
We held an event for civil society organizations this month to share lessons from the initiative’s independent evaluation. The evaluators spoke to secondees, their seconding organisations, funders, and the GLA; whilst attendees at the event were able to hear directly from former secondees. We continue to engage with former secondees to help us understand how the initiative can be further improved to support partners in their work.
We will continue to involve civil society partners in discussions around potential next steps and priorities for the initiative so that any future work is able to benefit even more Londoners.

Tackling Bullying of EU Citizens at School

Jennette Arnold: I am extremely worried by reports (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/22/xenophobic-bullying-souring-lives-of-east-european-pupils-in-uk) that some EU children are experiencing increased xenophobic bullying since the Brexit referendum. How do your programmes, including Schools for Success, Healthy Schools London and Teach London combat bullying and discrimination?

The Mayor: It is very disturbing that this research found that 77 per centof EU background pupils surveyed said they had suffered racism, xenophobia or bullying, and that of these 49 per centsaid the attacks had become more frequent since the EU referendum. Amongst the uncertainty over our exit from the EU, it is more important than ever that our school environments are safe places for young people to discuss concerns, explore different opinions, and to celebrate the diversity which is our greatest asset.
In my recent letter to all London headteachers – including those involved in my Schools for Success and Teach London programmes – I highlighted National Hate Crime Awareness week and asked schools to join me in making the most of this opportunity to kick-start a year of action against prejudice and hate. As part of my Healthy Schools London programme, schools must meet a set of criteria relating to anti-bullying. These include nominated staff who are responsible for emotional wellbeing and mental health, having an anti-bullying/behaviour policy, and embedding emotional wellbeing and mental health including anti-bullying into the curriculum.

Assessing the Effectiveness of London Family Fund

Jennette Arnold: What metrics will you use to assess the effectiveness of the London Family Fund?

The Mayor: GLA’s City Intelligence Unit is conducting a full evaluation of each year of the London Family Fund, including qualitative interviews with families and project leads. The evaluation will measure:
1) the number of families engaged in the programme and their demographics;
2) the number of families that form new relationships and networks with other parents in their local areas; and
3) the reduction in their social isolation and loneliness.
The interim year-one evaluation has shown some early signs of success of the programme, with families reporting new relationships forming, increased sense of local belonging and reduced social isolation. The full evaluation will be available later this year.

Measurement of traffic and pollution impacts from protests

Caroline Russell: In April 2019, the London Air project of King’s College London produced an interim analysis of the effects of the Extinction Rebellion climate protests. These interim figures show the protests reduced pollution on nearby streets at the time. What analysis or research have your officers conducted into the effects on traffic and pollution of events such as Extinction Rebellion protests and Car Free Day, and will this be published?

The Mayor: King’s College London reported a reduction in concentrations of nitrogen dioxide at roadside sites near the protest in April 2019. City Hall has not undertaken further analysis.
With over 27 km of closed roads in central London and events across 27 boroughs including 385 play streets 22 September 2019 was London’s biggest ever Car Free Day celebration. King’s College London installed a temporary monitor on Regent Street to measure the impact of its closure. They found nitrogen dioxide concentrations were 60 per cent lower on Car Free Day compared to the day before. City Hall’s own analysis of the Breathe London air quality sensor at Bank Junction found concentrations of nitrogen dioxide were 40 per cent lower on Car Free Day than the day before.

Food Waster

Tony Arbour: How many boroughs will not provide a separate weekly food waste collection by 31st December 2019?

The Mayor: By 31st December 2019, 24 boroughs will provide separate weekly food waste collections to kerbside properties. 15 of these boroughs will collect food waste that is fully separated from other recycling streams for treatment via anaerobic digestion with the remaining nine collecting food waste that is co-mingled with garden waste for treatment via In-Vessel Composting.
My officers are working with all boroughs to develop their waste Reduction and Recycling Plans by 2020 to set out how they will meet my minimum service level for household recycling, including the nine that do not currently provide a separate food waste collection service.
Please see answer to Mayor's Question 2019/9162 from May of this year.

Smart Meters

Tony Arbour: How is the GLA working with Government to offer smart meters to every home owner in London?

The Mayor: Government is currently consulting on extending the smart meter target out to 2024. This proposal validates our earlier concerns (Please see Mayor’s Question 2019/9171 ). I will continue to raise in my response to that consultation the need for Government Ofgem and energy companies produce a credible plan which demonstrates how the rollout can overcome the management, technological, financial and social barriers hampering progress. I will also be urging Government to address my concerns at the level of consumer engagement and energy efficiency advice provided to Londoners, as well as the inadequate attention to the needs of vulnerable people as part of the smart meter rollout. The plan must ensure that benefits to consumers are maximised.

Violence Reduction Unit (VRU)

Susan Hall: Which examples of best practice from other VRUs across the country have informed and continue to inform the operation of the London VRU?’

The Mayor: The safety and security of London is my top priority. That’s why I’m making sure that we’re doing all we can in London to be tough on crime as well as the causes of crime.
As part of this approach, we set up London’s first Violence Reduction Unit last year, which is working to reduce violence and to put communities and young people at the heart of tackling this problem. We’re working in partnership with key public sector bodies, including the police, the probation services, local authorities, the NHS and schools.
One of the most critical partnerships we have is with the communities that are most affected. Over the last six months, the London VRU has made a huge effort to listen to their experiences, which is helping to focus our efforts.
As we were the first in England and Wales to establish a VRU, it’s new units from across the country that have been keen to speak to us in London. For example, we’ve been happy to give advice and guidance to the West Midlands and West Yorkshire. However, we’re always looking to learn from best practice. So, the VRU team has visited:
The London VRU has also been in contact with academics in the United States and is learning from what’s happening in New York City and Chicago. This alongside the fact-finding mission to Glasgow earlier this year.
London is much bigger and has greater community diversity than Glasgow, but the city has implemented initiatives we can learn from. Amongst other things, the visit confirmed the importance of the negative impact of school exclusions and how important role models and mentoring can be.
Our VRU in London is starting to do some fantastic work, prioritising crime prevention with funded programmes now in place. These cover:
We know the best time to stop violent crime is before it starts -even with the backdrop of devastating cuts from the Government, we’ll continue to do all we can in London to invest in our young people and to expand opportunity for all.

Smart Meters

Tony Arbour: Do you know how many smart meters have been installed so far in London?

The Mayor: The most recent public available data is June 2018. Please see Mayor’s Question 2019/9171 https://www.london.gov.uk/questions/2019/9171

Car Allowances

Susan Hall: Do any GLA employees receive car allowances? If so, how many and what was the total cost of this in the most recent financial year?

The Mayor: No members of staff at the GLA receive car allowances.

Organ trafficking and harvesting

Susan Hall: For each of the years Oct 16 to Sep 17, Oct 17 to Sep 18 and Oct 18 to Sep 19, how many instances of organ trafficking, and harvesting have been detected?

The Mayor: Offences of Organ Trafficking and Harvesting would be recorded crimes under the Human Tissue Act (2004). A search of MPS crime systems for all offence codes under this Act for the date period requested produced a null return, i.e. the MPS have not recorded any offences under this Act. A similar search was performed for allegations (unconfirmed offences, or initial classifications): again, this produced a null return.

Lorry thefts

Susan Hall: For each of the years Oct 16 to Sep 17, Oct 17 to Sep 18 and Oct 18 to Sep 19, how many thefts from lorries have occurred?
For each of the years Oct 16 to Sep 17, Oct 17 to Sep 18 and Oct 18 to Sep 19, how many thefts have taken place in lorry parks?

The Mayor: Please see attached the requested data for the period specified. It should be noted that the accuracy of the data is totally reliant on the quality of the crime flagging.

Follow up on PSCO enforcement on CS2

Caroline Russell: Thank you for your answer to my question 2019/17406. My question was particularly about the actions by Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). Other than the actions of the Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC), what work is being undertaken to ensure enforcement is fair and proportionate to the danger posed?

The Mayor: In addition to the work of the PCSOs from RTPC on the cycle superhighway 2, for the past several weeks the MPS cycle safety team (CST) have been conducting fair and proportionate intelligence-led enforcement patrols along CS2, in particular at Cable Street and Commercial Way in response to information received from the public. Enforcement has been carried out against a number of motorists and cyclists for a variety of offences including contravention of road signs, driving whilst using a mobile phone and driving without insurance. The CST does not have PCSO’s posted within the team although there are significant number of PCSO’s working within our safer transport teams, reassurance task teams and roads policing teams.

Cladding other than ACM

Andrew Dismore: What progress is being made in identifying funds for the removal of dangerous cladding other than ACM, for example timber; and what have you been doing to achieve this?

The Mayor: I, and my housing team, have been continuously lobbying the Government for the Social and Private Sector Cladding Remediation Funds to be extended to cover all types of unsafe cladding systems. So far, no additional funds have been made available by the MHCLG.

'Red plaque’ scheme

Andrew Dismore: The Fire Brigades Union has introduced a ‘red plaque’ scheme, to commemorate the memory of firefighters who lost their lives on duty. Do you support this scheme, and what can you do to help overcome some of the problems they experience with property owners, including TfL?

The Mayor: I am supportive of the FBU’s red plaque scheme as a means of commemorating and honouring firefighters who have been killed in the line of duty. I have not been made aware of any problems with property owners but would bring it to the attention of the relevant parties should such a specific issue be raised.

Balcony dangers from fire

Andrew Dismore: What can you do to publicise the dangers from fire of using balconies, especially those of timber construction, for the storage of inflammable material or for other leisure activities such as barbecues?

The Mayor: London Fire Brigade (LFB) continues to publicise the dangers of fires on balconies, particularly following recent incidents. Communications work has focused on raising awareness around the careless disposal of cigarettes, storage of flammable materials and the unsafe use of BBQs. LFB is targeting communications at residents associations, organisations responsible for managing buildings and residents living in properties with balconies. Balcony safety is also being incorporated into the updated version of the ‘Fire Safety in the Home’ booklet.
A public-facing guidance note on balcony fires is currently going through a consultation process and will be shared with London Councils Fire Safety group to assist with both their safety messaging and tenant engagement. This will also be made available on LFB’s website.

Carbon monoxide poisoning (1)

Andrew Dismore: Please could you provide the number of incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning in London for 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19. Please could you break the figures down by borough?

The Mayor: London Fire Brigade (LFB) does not explicitly record incidents of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Some references to CO poisoning can be found in free text attached to incident records, or where it has been recorded as a special service HAZMAT incident. The data attached relies on free text search and, therefore, should be treated with caution. It counts free text from fire investigation reports, initial and final call descriptions, injury categories such as casualty details and cause of death or injury from the LFB Incident Management System. It is consistent with other data returns LFB has provided on CO as a theme.
Summary data including a borough breakdown is in the table attached. These numbers do not represent the full extent of carbon monoxide poisoning in London. Data for this is published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on their website.

Cladding remediation fund (1)

Andrew Dismore: Thank you for your answer to question 2019/17635. Has the cladding remediation fund administered by the GLA fund now opened and, if so, what has been the initial take up in terms of the number of private sector buildings that have had funding allocated?

The Mayor: The Private Sector Cladding Remediation Fund opened to all applicants on 23 September 2019. Applications are in progress but no funds have yet been approved.

Cladding remediation fund (2)

Andrew Dismore: Thank you for your answer to question 2019/17634. Has the cladding remediation fund administered by the GLA fund now opened and, if so, how many dwellings are contained in the buildings that have initially applied?

The Mayor: The Private Sector Cladding Remediation Fund opened to all applicants on 23 September 2019. Applications are in progress but none have been completed yet. It therefore is not possible to confirm the number of dwellings at this stage.

Carbon monoxide poisoning (2)

Andrew Dismore: Do the smoke alarms that the London Fire Brigade provide as part of home fire safety visits also detect carbon monoxide?

The Mayor: London Fire Brigade (LFB) does not currently supply carbon monoxide detectors at home fire safety visits. LFB’s wider work on carbon monoxide safety includes a two year project part-funded by the Gas Safety Trust to provide home fire safety visits, carbon monoxide alarms and data loggers to London houseboat residents.
Carbon monoxide alarms were provided during pilot Fire Safe and Well visits and their impact will be evaluated as part of the wider MOPAC evaluation. LFB’s Community Safety team is producing a paper for the Deputy Mayor’s Fire and Resilience Board in early 2020 on the potential of providing carbon monoxide alarms, alongside other assistive technology, at future Home Fire Safety Visits.

Carbon monoxide poisoning (3)

Andrew Dismore: How many smoke alarms has the London Fire Brigade provided as part of its home fire safety visits in 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19?

The Mayor: The attached document includes data on standard smoke alarms, as well as alarms for the hard of hearing, carbon monoxide (CO) alarms, and heat alarms.Please note, the data excludes any alarms installed/provided as part of pilot Fire Safe and Well visits.

Deposit Return Scheme (1)

Leonie Cooper: What progress have you made lobbying Government for London to become a trial city for the Deposit Return Scheme?

The Mayor: The Greater London Authority made a submission last December to DEFRA on the full range of integrated consultations emerging from the Government’s Resources and Waste Strategy. This included a consultation on a Deposit Return Scheme.
In that submission I welcomed the introduction of a well-designed DRS, fully aligned and synchronised with more consistent recycling services and a greater role for producer responsibility. I also made clear the unique possibilities and role London could play.
I understand that DEFRA staff are still reviewing industry and stakeholder responses and our officials meet regularly to ensure that London’s position and opportunities are fully reflected in future government policy.

Water Refill Point (3)

Leonie Cooper: What plans do you have for expanding the water refill scheme, in the light of its success and Green Alliance’s recent report (https://www.green-alliance.org.uk/resources/losing_the_bottle.pdf) emphasising the continued issue of single use plastic bottles?

The Mayor: I am continuing to expand Refill London, which now includes over 2,500 refill points across the capital, by calling on more shops, businesses, tourist attractions and venues to offer free water refills to the public.
My officers are working with London and Partners to promote the scheme to their members and through Visit London to help expand awareness. They will also continue to work with TfL and other functional bodies, such as Public Health England to offer more refill points and promote the scheme through their summer hydration campaigns and heatwave alerts.
In addition to the drinking fountain programmes mentioned in Mayor's Question 2019/19882, my officers are currently exploring how drinking fountains can be installed in partnership with the other water companies that serve London.

Environment Bill

Leonie Cooper: Given it now looks like the Environment Bill may not be dropped after all, what changes would you like to see so that it meets London’s environmental needs and the demands of Londoners?

The Mayor: I am pleased that the Government has finally laid the Environment Bill before Parliament which the Government states will help tackle the pressing environmental challenges of our time and leave our environment in a better state than we inherited it.
I welcome the fact that government have strengthened the Bill and committed to enshrine key environmental principles, legally binding long-term targets, in areas including air quality, biodiversity, waste and water resources, and charged the Office for Environmental Protection with enforcing climate laws. These were all areas that I called for in my responses to government on the draft Bill.
However, there are a number of areas where the Bill is lacking. I called for the Bill to legislate for the non-regression commitment and establish an Office for Environmental Protection that is fully independent of government, appropriately resourced and granted the necessary powers to hold government to fully account.
Unfortunately, the Bill as proposed does not do this and as it passes through parliament I will continue to call for it to be strengthened to include these important issues and ensure that the UK post-Brexit has an equivalent or better level of protection than it has currently whilst in the EU.
These elements are all essential if the Environment Bill, supported by new and additional sources of funding, is going to enable London to meet the ambitious environmental targets that I have set out in my London Environment Strategy.

Underground Air Pollution

David Kurten: It is known that PM2.5 levels on the London Underground are many times higher than the legal limit, with Hampstead being one of the worst examples, but what are average annual concentrations of NO2, SO2, methane, ozone and volatile organic compounds at the platform level in Hampstead Station and other PM2.5 blackspots?

The Mayor: Transport for London’s (TfL’s) cleaning regime is effective in ensuring that London Underground operates well within the Health and Safety Executive’s maximum limit for respirable dust, as is confirmed by regular monitoring.
Historically, TfL has not measured PM2.5 levels on the London Underground network. In January 2019 the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) report recommended that future monitoring includes collecting physiologically relevant fractions (e.g. PM10 and PM2.5), to enable London Underground (LU) Particulate Matter to be included in wider toxicity studies. This recommendation has been accepted and will be implemented in TfL’s next round of monitoring.
TfL does not measure these pollutants, which are not produced inside the LU network.
The dust in the London Underground comes from a range of sources. This includes the brakes being applied on trains as well as rail and wheel wear. Other compounds in the dust include textile fibres from customers, and mineral dusts
TfL spends around £60m per annum cleaning its trains, stations and tunnels to ensure dust and particles are kept to an absolute minimum. New cleaning methods are currently being trialled and the most effective will be incorporated into TfL’s cleaning regime.

Future Homes Standard

Leonie Cooper: Are you satisfied that the Future Homes Standard is as ambitious as your policies in London?

The Mayor: The Government has said the current Building Regulations consultation is a stepping-stone to a Future Homes Standard which will be consulted on fully in 2024. The technical detail of this consultation is currently being reviewed by my team and Government are still to establish the full details of the Future Homes Standard, but given we are facing a climate emergency, what is proposed so far does not go far enough.
We have been successfully delivering a zero carbon homes standard in London since 2016 and Government needs to show the same level of ambition. The proposal to remove powers from planning authorities to set their own energy efficiency standards for new homes would be a retrograde step and reverse the progress London has made in reducing carbon emissions - this must not happen. I will be making that clear to the Government.

RE:NEW

Leonie Cooper: Thank you for your answer to question 2019/17610 on RE:NEW. Which projects were held back due to the cut to the FiTs, what do you anticipate their replacements to be, and when will these come on stream?

The Mayor: The RE:NEW team were working on a framework for the supply and installation of solar PV with one of the largest housing providers in the country (who cannot be named here for confidentiality reasons), which was cancelled shortly before it was due to complete. This framework was due to install 1,000-2,000 solar PV installations.
This type of project will be replaced with stronger retrofit projects, saving more carbon and reducing energy bills further than would have been achieved originally.
These newer projects will contain multiple measures in a ‘whole house’ approach, ideally featuring solar PV alongside building fabric and heating improvements.

Water Refill Point (2)

Leonie Cooper: How many water bottles have your water refill points saved? Can you break this down for each refill point installed?

The Mayor: To reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles that Londoners use, I partnered with Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) #Oneless campaign to install 28 free drinking fountains. My response to MQ19882 states that the first 23 fountains have dispensed 250,492 litres of water over the last 20 months, which is the equivalent of 501,178 half litre single-use plastic water bottles. On average each fountain has dispensed almost 11,000 litres, avoiding 22,000 half litre single-use plastic water bottles per fountain. Usage data from fountains I have installed in partnership with Thames Water will be available later in the autumn.
I’ve also launched London Refill which has over 2,500 refill stations across the city, with independent businesses, large chains and iconic London culture venues such as the Tate and National Theatre, offering free tap water refills to the public.
Due to the voluntary nature of this scheme and the self-reporting usage of the Refill App, it is difficult to accurately capture the exact number of single-use plastic water bottles avoided across the 2,500 refill points. However, we can use a combination of data to gauge success and effectiveness of these schemes. For example, GLA research conducted through YouGov opinion polling, has shown a 7 per centincrease in the number of people who often use a reusable water bottle from 49 per centin May 2018 to 56 per centin August 2019. Furthermore, this research suggests that those who use a reusable water bottle cut their single-use plastic bottle use by 50 per centon average.

Water Refill Point (1)

Leonie Cooper: How much water have your water refill points dispensed? Can you break this down for each refill point installed?

The Mayor: To reduce the amount of single-use plastic bottles that Londoners use, I partnered with Zoological Society of London’s #Oneless campaign to install 28 free drinking fountains. Over the last 20 months the first 23 fountains have collectively dispensed 250,492 litres of water, which is the equivalent of 501,178 half litre single-use plastic water bottles. On average, each fountain has dispensed approximately 11,000 litres which equates to avoiding almost 22,000 half litre water bottles per fountain.
I’m now working in partnership with Thames Water to install over 100 more drinking fountains over three years (2018/19 to 2020/21). All the Thames Water drinking fountains are being fitted with smart meters to keep track of usage. The first usage report will be available later in the autumn.
I’ve also launched London Refill, which is a water bottle refill scheme where businesses can sign up and offer free tap water refills to the public. Please see MQ19883 for refill data regarding this scheme.

Advertising for night time events

Caroline Russell: In relation to promoting London’s night time economy, have you considered utilising advertising space on Transport for London (TfL) bus stops to advertise upcoming local night time events?

The Mayor: Transport for London already extensively promotes things to do in London through its ‘Wonderful World of off peak’ campaign, which involves advertising in Time Out Magazine, on the TfL network, and through cultural maps across the network to ensure it reaches Londoners. We also promote London’s cultural events through newsletters we send out every month.
Any commercial venues or attractions looking to promote their events through advertising space on the transport network, including bus stops, can do so through the usual commercial process.

Hospital Air Pollution (2)

Leonie Cooper: Do you have plans to expand the hospital air pollution monitoring scheme to other hospitals, particularly St George’s Hospital in my constituency, which is near Tooting Broadway, one of London’s most polluted roads?

The Mayor: Currently three of the ten hospital monitoring pods have been installed, and will collect data for twelve months. Once all the hospital monitors installed as part of the Breathe London programme have been in place for a sufficient duration there will be an evaluation of the hospital monitoring programme. A decision on whether to extend the programme to include additional hospitals will be made at this point.

Walthamstow Night Time Enterprise Zone Funding

Caroline Russell: Could you provide a breakdown of your £75,000 fund set up to support London’s first Night-Time Enterprise Zone in Walthamstow (pilot scheme to run from Oct 2019 – Jan 2020)?

The Mayor: The GLA’s grant of £75,000 for the Night Time Enterprise Zone pilot project is matched by the London Borough of Waltham Forest. This has created a total project budget of £155,000 which the borough has allocated as follows:
The pilot project will deliver a number of activities which, subject to refinement, will include:

Continued support for night time workers

Caroline Russell: Following the recommendations in the London Assembly Economy Committee report, Rewrite the night: the future of London’s night time economy, in February 2018, what progress have you made in ensuring that London’s night time economy is affordable, accessible and inclusive for all Londoners?

The Mayor: I want London at night to be inclusive and fair for all Londoners. The Assembly’s report informed the Night Time Commission’s recommendations which I have made significant progress in delivering.
I have published ‘London at Night’, the most comprehensive research on the London between 6pm and 6am. I have announced a Night Time Enterprise Zone which will trial new ideas to boost Walthamstow High Street, support local businesses and workers, and improve access to shops and services after 6pm.
My Night Czar continues to carry out night surgeries across London and chairs the Night Time Borough Champions network to help develop night time strategies and share best practice. I have developed the most pro-night time draft London Plan and the London Borough of Culture programme is promoting accessible night time culture. Over 250 organisations including boroughs and businesses have signed up to the Women’s Night Safety Charter.

Safety of night time workers

Caroline Russell: What progress have you made, while promoting the night time economy, in ensuring that London’s night time workers are safe while travelling to and from work?

The Mayor: In November 2018, I published ‘London at Night’, the most comprehensive research on London from 6pm to 6am. The report revealed that Londoners are no more likely to be a victim of crime at night than during the day. Nevertheless, some groups, particularly women, do have a greater fear of crime at night. That’s why my Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime and my Night Czar launched the first Women’s Night Safety Charter which has over 250 signatories to date.
I want all Londoners to feel safe, particularly those who work and commute in the evening and night time. The Night Tube has enabled this for many travellers, with more than 30 million journeys on the Night Tube and Overground since they went live.
There are around 3,000 police and police community support officers and 77,000 CCTV cameras across London’s transport network. TfL’s Late Night Transport Working Group will be looking at ways to improve the night time transport experience for workers and passengers. This includes working to make night time journeys even more safe and reliable.

Health Impacts of NO2

Keith Prince: What is your specific evidence for the health impacts of current levels of NO2 in London?

The Mayor: There is a broad scientific consensus that air pollution, including NO2, has direct effects on public health. This is why the EU and the UK Government have adopted legal limits on concentrations of NO2 for the protection of public health, which are themselves based on recommendations and guidelines from the World Health Organization.
In 2015 the UK Government’s Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution (COMEAP) undertook a meta-analysis of the epidemiological evidence. This report was followed later in 2015 and in 2018 by COMEAP reports that quantified the “mortality burden” of elevated short and long term exposure to NO2, based on analysis of multiple cohort studies, and these studies have informed independent calculations of the scale of health effects in London.

Adult Education Budget (4)

Fiona Twycross: What are the benefits of supporting small projects that deliver inspiring learning environments, from community kitchens to virtual learning spaces for Londoners?

The Mayor: My Small Projects and Equipment Fund, which is part of my Skills for Londoners Capital Fund, invites skills providers to propose capital investments that deliver fit-for-purpose facilities, tailored to meet the needs of learners and industry. These projects can deliver a host of benefits, improving the accessibility and efficiency of learning facilities and enabling the delivery of more employer-responsive curriculums. Improved facilities help elevate the quality and range of provision on offer in London, improve learner satisfaction and support progression to higher levels of technical and vocational study. They also enable learners from a broader range of backgrounds to gain new skills, including learners previously or at risk of becoming NEET (not in employment, education or training), as well as learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and BAME learners, offender learners, parents and carers.

Adult Education Budget (3)

Fiona Twycross: How many projects will be able to access the£3.75 million funding in the new round of Small Projects and Equipment Fund?

The Mayor: Through Round 1 of the Small Projects and Equipment Fund, £3.6 million supported 39 projects. I expect a similar number of projects to be successful through Round 2. The upper limit for the fund has been raised this round, with projects able to apply for up to £300,000 GLA grant - an increase of £100,000 compared to Round 1. This will help support estate improvements and upgrades of a larger scale.
The total funding available has also been increased this round, and the fund has been constructed to be flexible in its ability to support a wider range of project types – whether that be state-of-the-art equipment purchases, larger-scale refurbishments, or even full new-build proposals. We expect a strong blend of bids that span the full range of the fund parameters, from £25,000 to £300,000.

Diversity of the Sports Media programme

Fiona Twycross: How will your Diversity of the Sports Media programme be evaluated so that best practice can be shared to encourage more underrepresented groups into journalism?

The Mayor: I am delighted the GLA, as part of our EURO 2020 engagement activities, has joined forces with the Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS) to provide the Diversification of the Sports Media Programme. This programme is a unique opportunity to identify, support and develop the next generation of sports writers and broadcasters from all backgrounds and to help to ensure the sports media industry is more reflective of modern Britain.
As part of the programme, industry opportunities and employment support will be provided to the cohort. BCOMS will monitor the take-up of these opportunities to ensure the goal of 20 work placements/internships/jobs in sports media within 6 months is achieved.
In addition to achieving this goal, I have commissioned a monitoring and evaluation agency to independently assess the impact of my sports programmes. These providers will work closely with BCOMS to evaluate the impact of the programme and provide a full report to share learnings within the sector.

Air Pollution Calculations

Keith Prince: What is the formal record of cause of death to which the Mayor is referring, from which he has calculated that 9.500 London residents are dying each year due to air pollution in the city?

The Mayor: Cause of death as recorded on a death certificate is not always the same as an attributable factor in death. For example, were a heavy smoker to die from lung cancer the cause of death would be lung cancer. The best scientific evidence, around which there is a strong consensus, is that this death would be attributable to smoking. The cause of death, however, would be recorded as lung cancer. Similarly, there is a strong scientific consensus that in London thousands of premature deaths a year are attributable to air pollution. The causes of death attributable to air pollution exposure include cancer, stroke and heart disease.
The number of premature deaths in London attributable to air pollution was independently calculated by King’s College London in 2015 and the report explaining how they came to this figure is available on the London.gov.uk website (https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/hiainlondon_kingsreport_14...). This report was based on the best scientific evidence at the time on mortality attributable to air pollution, more recent updates suggest that the true impact may be higher (please see Mayor's Question 2019/19768).

Airborne Pollutants (1)

Keith Prince: Which three airborne pollutants, specifically, does the Mayor claim are causing the most deaths in the Capital and in what proportions are the respective pollutants having this effect?

The Mayor: The three pollutants in London most associated with premature mortality are nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and coarse particulate matter (PM10). The impacts of exposure to air pollution are complex, whilst some are attributable directly to individual pollutants, some impacts are due to the combined effect of exposure to multiple pollutants. Detailed apportionment of mortality effects is included in the King’s College London “Understanding the Health Impacts of Air Pollution in London” report, available on https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/HIAinLondon_KingsReport_14....

Airborne Pollutants (2)

Keith Prince: What, in order of impact, are the chief sources of the three primary airborne pollutants that the Mayor claims are killing people in London, and what is his source for this information?

The Mayor: The three primary airborne pollutants are nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and coarse particulate matter (PM10). As NO can readily be converted to NO2 in the atmosphere emissions are usually calculated as a mixture of Nitrogen Oxides, NOx.
The London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI), which is the GLA’s main dataset for air quality, is used to calculate the contributions from each sector to London’s total emissions. The LAEI is regularly updated and published on the London datastore. The most recent inventory (LAEI 2016) was published in May this year. The LAEI uses publicly available data, such as the Government’s National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory and registers of industrial processes, as well as data gathered by TfL, such as traffic counts, to calculate emissions.
Pollutant
Largest Source
2nd Largest source
3rd Largest source
NOx
Road transport
Industrial/commercial Heat/power
Aviation
PM10
Construction
Road transport
Resuspension*
PM2.5
Road transport
Domestic biomass (wood burning)
Construction
* “Resuspension” refers to Particulate Matter that is stirred up from roads or other surfaces back into the atmosphere.

Unflushables and single-use plastics

Caroline Russell: What have you done to encourage boroughs to increase their uptake rates for reusable nappy schemes since the publication of the London Assembly Environment Committee report, Unflushables, in August 2018?

The Mayor: London produces too much waste and our recycling rates need to increase significantly. To tackle this we need to focus on cutting the main sources of waste as well as focusing on increasing recycling rates of the main waste streams. That’s why I have set a target to reduce food waste by 50 per cent per person by 2030, as well as a requirement for waste authorities to deliver a minimum level of service for household recycling by 2020, including collections of the six main dry materials from all properties and separate weekly food waste from kerbside properties. Nappies make up a smaller proportion of household waste than dry recyclables or food waste.
However, I am working with all London boroughs to promote waste reduction as part of my London Environment Strategy. As part of this, boroughs are required to submit a Reduction and Recycling Plan (RRP) by 2020. These will demonstrate how boroughs will reduce waste and make an effective contribution to my London-wide recycling targets. Actions that reduce the use of disposable products, including nappies, are encouraged where satisfactory alternatives are available.
I have received 20 RRPs to date, with the remaining 13 scheduled to be submitted before the end of the year. A number of the RRPs received to date have described how boroughs are promoting reusable nappies and my officers are supporting this approach.
LWARB’s Advance London project has six businesses in its cohort that aim to address the nappies, wipes and sanitary products waste streams, such as Nappy Zap and Gcycle. This project provides business support and advice to these businesses to aid their impact in the marketplace.
I would encourage any reusable nappies SMEs looking for business support to apply to Advance London via https://www.advancelondon.org/advisory/apply-now/.
Please see my response to Mayor's Question 2019/12017.

Flooding at City Hall

Caroline Russell: In the past month City Hall has had several instances of flooding due to heavy rain fall. Have you: a) assessed City Hall for resilience to climate extremes, and b) put measures in place to improve the resilience of the building?

The Mayor: The London climate of the future is likely to be increasingly different from that of the past. The south east of England is expected to experience higher rainfall throughout the year. It is also expected there will be more frequent and intense extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall events. Summer thunderstorms will be increasingly common and more intense in nature, leading to potential for more surface water flood events.
During the past month we had heavy and unexpected downfall of rain and unfortunately the severe weather did affect City Hall building with water ingress on two occasions.
The Facilities team with the assistance of GLA contractors and suppliers are assessing the impact on City Hall and are working closely with the building’s landlord to assess what measures can be put in place to improve resilience to extreme events in future. In the meantime, temporary measures are in place to limit the impact of future heavy and unexpected rainfall.

Solar Together London (5)

Caroline Russell: Is your aspiration to install 700-1,000 solar panels under phase 3 of the Solar Together scheme ambitious enough?

The Mayor: The ambition for phase 3 takes account of the Government’s short-sighted removal of the Feed-in Tariff, which is highly likely to affect take-up.
The loss of the Feed-in Tariff has undoubtedly caused consumer uncertainty, with installations of solar PV by UK households falling by 94 per centin the month after the closure of the scheme. Whilst the financial case for investment in solar remains broadly positive, especially with the group-buying discounts possible with Solar Together London, this phase of the project will allow us to gauge interest and what actions may be possible to increase domestic uptake in London, despite central government inaction.
I will continue to lobby Government to do more to help unlock London’s solar energy potential.

Solar Together London (4)

Caroline Russell: What plans do you have to increase solar panel installation on public buildings owned by the GLA family?

The Mayor: As part of my ambition to install 100MW solar through my programmes, I have been working with the functional bodies to install solar, despite cut backs to Government support for solar and restrictions to their budgets. This includes supporting the functional bodies to identify and prioritise additional sites through mapping and sharing best practice, encouraging installations through the use of my delivery programmes such as DEEP and RE:FIT and on those sites that are challenging to progress, working to determine how barriers to deployment can be overcome.
TfL are currently progressing 1.1MW of solar installations through the RE:FIT programme, and both the London Fire Brigade and the Metropolitan Police Service have installed new solar systems and are looking at progressing further sites.
I continue to lobby Government to improve support for solar, having previously called for the maintenance of the Feed in Tariff scheme, reducing VAT on solar and batteries, and for concerns to be addressed over the ability of the Smart Export Guarantee to support the same level of solar deployment.

London’s first black housing co-op

Siân Berry: A constituent would like to know what are you doing to support Nubia Way, the first black housing co-op in London, which is under threat?

The Mayor: I want to do all I can to support Nubia Way, which has set a precedent for self and custom build in London and has inspired other similar schemes in Lewisham. My officers have met Lewisham Council to raise our concerns about the issues Nubia Way is facing, and to understand what support residents may require, and they will also be contacting Chisel housing association and the Regulator of Social Housing.

Small businesses and housing opportunities

Siân Berry: What work have you done to make sure small and medium sized developers, non-profits and other SMEs have access to advice, land and grants through the GLA, in order to promote diversity and innovation in London's approach to providing genuinely affordable housing?

The Mayor: In July I launched a tailored offer to support London’s smaller and medium-sized housing associations, available here:https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/smha_offer_2019.pdf
More widely, my Innovation Fund and Community Housing Fund offer support to a diverse range of affordable homebuilders. My Small Sites, Small Builders programme has made 30 publicly owned sites available to small developers, housing associations and community-led groups, and the Community-Led Housing Hub is supporting a range of community-led housing organisations to access advice and progress their schemes.

Community Roadwatch

David Kurten: Could you please explain how Community Roadwatch is funded in London, with specific reference to the roles played by the Metropolitan Police and TfL?

The Mayor: The Metropolitan Police Service's (MPS)Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC) work in partnership with Transport for London (TfL) to deliver Community Roadwatch (CRW). Although RTPC is part funded by TfL, there is no specific funding stream for CRW. CRW is funded from the MPS RTPC budget. Community Roadwatch is a road safety initiative and tactic available for the MPS to use as part of its daily enforcement, engagement and education activity. Led by TfL, CRW aims to reduce speeding in residential areas and gives local residents the opportunity to work side by side with their local safer transport policing teams, who deliver and oversee the operational activity, using speed detection equipment to identify speeding vehicles in their communities.

Meat-free Monday

Caroline Russell: Will you support meat-free Mondays in City Hall (e.g. no serving of any meat or fish in City Hall and GLA group cafes and canteens, or at events) considering the severe environmental burden of meat consumption?

The Mayor: Since becoming Mayor 2016, I have acted to promote sustainable food in London. The Mayor’s London Food Strategy: Healthy and Sustainable Food for London is working to help make it easier for all Londoners to eat more healthily. Although it does not promote a solely vegetarian or vegan diet, the Strategy notes that for better health and to help lower the environmental impact of the food system, Londoners should consider eating less meat, and more fruit and more vegetable-based meals.
The London Food Strategy advocates that through better food procurement, businesses can help people eat healthier food produced to higher animal welfare and environmental standards. The Mayor is promoting sustainably-, ethically- and locally-sourced food across the GLA Group. The London Food Strategy recommends that businesses, local authorities and other public sector bodies should increase the amount of local, seasonal and sustainable food they buy, and measure their progress at providing a better balance of plant-based food compared to meat and dairy.
In addition, London signed a joint declaration on transitioning to a ‘planetary health diet’, along with other wold mayors during the C40 Cities summit on 10th October 2019. This involves eating more fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes, and for many, less food from animal sources, whilst supporting an overall increase of healthy plant-based food consumption in our cities by shifting away from unsustainable, unhealthy diets.
In this context, the recent increase in people enjoying vegetarian and vegan diets is welcomed.
The café in City Hall and hospitality for events caters to a wide range of dietary and cultural requirements, including vegan, vegetarian, and other healthy and sustainable options. In addition, it has taken other environmental measures such as banning single-use plastic cutlery, drinks bottles and straws.
However, Londoners have the right to choose what they eat, and it would not be right for me to seek to make those choices for them by enforcing particular dietary restrictions on them via the menu in the City Hall café. For that reason, it would not be appropriate for the café in City Hall to offer solely vegan produce – though we will of course continue to offer vegan options to the many customers who do choose them.

Spending review

Andrew Dismore: Do you share the concern of National Fire Chiefs Council that the Government’s spending review failed to address the employers’ pension contribution for fire sector workers and much needed investment for protection work?

The Mayor: Yes. It is essential that the fire service allocation in the 2020/21 spending round and the spending review for 2021/22 provide adequate resources to the fire service. They must meet current and developing demands, including those from pensions costs, and any new risks identified, such as those in relation to fire safety and the built environment.

Prevalence of cancer amongst LFB employees

Andrew Dismore: Following on from MQ 2019/17638, Will the London Fire Brigade (LFB) start monitoring how many firefighters are diagnosed with cancer after their careers with the LFB ends, in order to determine whether there is the increased risk of a cancer diagnosis after firefighters leave LFB employment?

The Mayor: As part of the Grenfell Health Monitoring Study participants will be asked to give their consent to linking their future medical records with the study. Any consenting individual’s future ill health may be collected, and subject to review and evaluation at a later stage. Where firefighters give their consent for this there will be an opportunity to carry out research that may establish linkage between the firefighter occupation and cancers, both during working life and beyond retirement.

Engine idling in Barnet

Andrew Dismore: Are you working with councils to promote anti engine-idling campaigns? Residents have written to me requesting such a campaign in Golders Green, can you assist in requesting the Council to do this?

The Mayor: In this round of the Mayor’s Air Quality Fund I am providing London’s boroughs with £500,000 for a pan-London anti-idling campaign which includes awareness raising, events, direct engagement with drivers, and enforcement against idling vehicles.
Unfortunately, Barnet have decided not to take part in this scheme. All of London’s other boroughs are active members of the project, but Barnet council have advised us that they are not willing/able to take part. I would very much welcome their participation in the scheme if they were to change their minds.

Building completion certificates

Andrew Dismore: When does London Fire Brigade believe the review of reconciliation between building completion certificates and Brigade inspection records will be completed, as referenced in your answer to my question 2019/17647?

The Mayor: This is a significant piece of work which is likely to be completed in Q2 next year.

Police sniffer dogs

Andrew Dismore: How many police sniffer dogs are there across London now, and how many were there in 2010?

The Mayor: As of September 2019, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) currently has in service:
44  Explosive Search Dogs
13  Standalone Firearms Search Dogs #
46  Drugs / Currency / Firearms Detection Dogs
12 Forensic Evidence Search Dogs *
2 Digital Media Detection Dogs +
Data for 2010 are not available as the MPS did not have computerised records and historical information has not been retained following a dog’s retirement from service.
# Standalone firearms search dogs are deployed to protective security operations.
* Forensic Evidence Search dogs are trained to find human remains, blood, bones, teeth, semen and products of animal origin (e.g. rhino horn etc). Of these, eight are trained to work with the Marine Support Unit on water for location of submerged remains.
+ Digital Media Detection dogs are trained to locate digital media such as USB sticks, memory cards, SIM cards, hard drives and mobile phones.

Prevalence of high-pressure laminate cladding

Andrew Dismore: Following the Building Research Establishment test BS8414 which established that high pressure laminate cladding did not meet required safety standards and should be removed, how many buildings in London have been identified that will need to have this cladding removed?

The Mayor: The exposure of buildings in London to unsafe high pressure laminate cladding systems is unknown. In July 2019, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government started a data collection exercise of non-ACM external wall systems in partnership with London boroughs. I understand the target for completion of this exercise is spring 2020 though I will continue to press the Government to move much more quickly.

Help for residents with cladding-related heat and energy bills

Andrew Dismore: Thank you for your answer to question 2019/12230 where you pledged to inform private sector tenants about the Warmer Homes Advice Service, in addition to the work already underway supporting social tenants. Will you make it a condition for compliance that private sector landlords applying to the remediation fund distribute literature to tenants, or take other appropriate steps to make them aware of the support available?

The Mayor: The scope and funding conditions for the Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund are set by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. However, where leaseholders contact the GLA directly my team will provide information on the Warmer Homes Advice Service and how they can seek support through my fund.

Independent evaluation of fire, safe and well

Andrew Dismore: Has the independent assessment of Fire, Safe and Well reported back yet, as you referenced in answer 2019/3920; and if so, will the assessment be published?

The Mayor: MOPAC are currently undertaking the evaluation of the Fire Safe and Well Pilot. The evaluation commenced in July 2019 and is ongoing. The delivery of visits in the five boroughs (Greenwich, Merton, Islington, Waltham Forest and Ealing) completed on 30 September 2019 and all outcomes, outputs, views of participants, partners and stakeholders will be assessed as part of the evaluation. The evaluation is due to completed by January 2020 and a report will then be produced with proposals for the future working.

ULEZ Impact

Keith Prince: Will the Mayor provide me with a clear summary of the methodology being used to measure the impact the introduction of ULEZ has had on emissions in London and ensure I have an opportunity to meet with those applying this methodology?

The Mayor: Earlier this year reports were published evaluating the impact of the central London Ultra Low Emission Zone following its first month and first four months of operation. These reports evaluated the impact of the ULEZ using vehicle compliance data. They found that in July 2019 the average compliance rate with the ULEZ standards was around 73 per cent in congestion charging hours and 75 per cent in a 24 hour period. This is much higher than 39 per cent in February 2017 and 61 per cent in March 2019 (congestion charging hours).
TheCentral London ULEZ - Six Month evaluation reportis now available and can be found here. It includes an evaluation of impacts on air pollution concentrations and emissions and afull methodology. Officers regularly offer meetings to the assembly member researchers and will arrange a full briefing on the ULEZ six month report.

Assessing Effectiveness of Getting Ahead London

Jennette Arnold: What metrics do you use to assess the effectiveness of Getting Ahead London?

The Mayor: In each of the first two years of the Getting Ahead London programme a quarter of participants were promoted to Headship. A further 10 per centin each year received some other promotion. So far, 11 per centof the cohort who finished the programme in July 2019 have been promoted to Headship and a further 18 per centhave had a promotion. Programme level evaluation each year has shown high completion rates and high numbers of participants reporting increased confidence and skills to support their career development.
The impact of the programme is measurable not only in the proportion of participants progressing quickly to Headship, but also in the significant positive changes in their knowledge and understanding of what it means to be the head of a London school. Coaches on the programme have reported an increased commitment to give back to the school system by sharing their expertise.

Exclusions

Jennette Arnold: It is good to see you taking seriously the problem of school exclusions in London. How are your programmes tackling off-rolling?

The Mayor: I recognise that as well as too many children being excluded, too many young Londoners are going missing from the school roll. That’s why my Violence Reduction Unit is developing a programme of work to support the young people most at risk, including: support with transition to secondary school and taking a whole school approach to creating nurturing environment where all children can learn and progress. I am also supporting young people outside of the school system through my £45m Young Londoners Fund.
A lack of public data means that there are no accurate figures on off-rolling or managed moves. I welcome the research from the Education Policy Institute which interrogates available data. Their updated October 2019 publication found as many as 1 in 10 pupils out of the national cohort who sat their GCSE in 2017 experienced an ‘unexplained exit’ at some point during their secondary school career. https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/unexplained-pupil-exits-data-multi-academy-trust-local-authority/ Access to more information will help local authorities monitor and challenge schools who are illegally or inappropriately removing children from their roll. I am pleased that Ofsted is tackling off-rolling through its inspections and in May 2019, I asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector to consider undertaking a deep dive into managed moves in London. My team is currently discussing with Ofsted whether they can share London data from the national research they are planning on managed moves.

Evaluation of the Early Years Hub Pilot

Jennette Arnold: The Mayor has established an Early Years Hub pilot (in Barnet, Newham and Wandsworth and Merton) to improve access to high-quality early education for London’s less advantaged families. The pilot is due to finish in December 2020. How will the pilot be robustly evaluated to determine whether the initiative should be scaled up to other London Boroughs?

The Mayor: In 2018, the GLA appointed an external evaluator to evaluate the work of the three early years hubs. The evaluator, Diane Dixon Associates, has been working closely with the hubs to assess their impact and the overall success of the hub model. They will publish a final report of their findings in the spring of 2021. They will also work with the hubs and the GLA to produce an online toolkit which will help share learning from the programme.

Teach London and Recruiting Teachers

Jennette Arnold: The Sutton Trust recently reported (https://www.suttontrust.com/research-paper/teacher-recruitment-gap/) on the difficulties that schools in disadvantaged areas experience in recruiting the best teachers, compared to schools in wealthier areas. How does Teach London alleviate this problem?

The Mayor: Teach London supports teacher recruitment and retention, particularly promoting initial teacher training opportunities across London. It highlights the benefits of training to be a teacher in London and the city-wide opportunities available through City Hall to help schools recruit and retain teachers.
Our London research (www.nfer.ac.uk/teacher-supply-retention-and-mobility-in-london) did not find a particular problem to recruit teachers in London’s disadvantaged areas. It found that the high cost of housing is the most important factor in teachers leaving London. The Teach London web pages set out the work I am doing to make it easier and more affordable to teach and live in London. www.london.gov.uk/teach-london
Over the next six months Teach London will focus on recruitment and retention of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) teachers as they are substantially under-represented in the profession compared to London’s pupil population.

Teachers Benefitting from Teach London

Jennette Arnold: How many teachers have benefited from Teach London?

The Mayor: We promote Teach London to schools and teacher training providers who have the key relationship with prospective teachers. Developed in partnership with London’s teaching schools, the Teach London website provides the education sector with a set of resources and positive messaging about starting and developing a teaching career in London. It also promotes local recruitment fairs and links to teaching jobs in London boroughs. The breadth of the campaign, and the fact that it is targeted at those considering a career in teaching, means it is not possible to put a figure on how many have benefitted.
Later this month I will be sending a video message and e-bulletin welcoming all this year’s newly qualified teachers in our London schools. I urge them to make the most of support from City Hall which can help make their first year of teaching a success – from the London Curriculum to my London Scientist and Healthy Schools London programmes.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Teach London

Jennette Arnold: What metrics do you use to assess the effectiveness of Teach London?

The Mayor: Teach London is a focused campaign which was designed with London’s teaching schools to support boroughs and schools in the recruitment and retention of teachers in the capital, and to supplement the level of support they were receiving from central government. My team assesses the effectiveness of the campaign through ongoing engagement with stakeholders such as the Teaching Schools sub-regional networks in London and the Pan-London Initial Teacher Training group.

Leaders Accessing Get Ahead London

Jennette Arnold: How many leaders has Getting Ahead London accessed?

The Mayor: Getting Ahead London helps create the capital’s next generation of senior school leaders and headteachers.
Since launching in 2016 Getting Ahead London has supported 220 senior leaders, across every London borough. The middle leader pilot this year has 24 participants. The programme has met its annual target of participants for the first three years. This year the programme accepted 12 more participants than planned due to high demand.
Across all four years over 40 per cent of participants have been from a non-White British background and women have represented around two-thirds of each year’s cohort.

Knightsbridge ASB

Tony Devenish: Residents in Knightsbridge are reporting to me an increase in anti-social behaviour and crime, which is not being tackled. Will you work with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to create a plan to prevent this?

The Mayor: Anti-social behaviour is a mandatory priority for all London boroughs as set out in my Police and Crime Plan. MOPAC already funds projects to tackle ASB at a borough level through the London Crime Prevention Fund (LCFP) and I have committed to maintaining the level of investment in the LCPF over the four years to 2021. MOPAC has also made £1 million available to Safer Neighbourhood Boards (SNB), including Kensington and Chelsea’s SNB, to bid for to fund projects to cut neighbourhood crime and boost public confidence, empowering boroughs to create locally driven problem-solving action plans.
ASB is also integrated in the roles of the two Dedicated Ward Officers and one PCSO per ward. The MPS has introduced training packages for all officers on ASB and a full specific training day for Neighbourhood officers.

Four Seasons care homes

Tony Devenish: In line with your strategic housing role, what actions are you taking to reassure senior citizens and their families, following reports of financial difficulties with Four Seasons care homes?

The Mayor: I understand that the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator, is fully aware of the developments with Four Seasons Health Care and remain in regular contact with them. They do not currently believe it is likely that there will be any cessation of services.
The difficulties impacting Four Seasons are symptomatic of the current state of social care. Many years of underfunding has had well-recognized consequences for people who receive care, theircarersand families,and the health and care system.
Until the Government addresses the social care crisis, vital services and the vulnerable people who rely on them will continue to be at risk. I will continue to urge Government to develop a sustainable plan for adult social care, with long-term funding to provide Londoners with the care and support they need.

Smart meter

Tony Arbour: How is the GLA working with Government to offer smart
meters to every SME in London?

The Mayor: Government is currently consulting on extending the smart meter target out to 2024. This proposal validates our earlier concerns (Please see Mayor’s Question 2019/9171.I will continue to raise in my response to that consultation the need for Government Ofgem and energy companies produce a credible plan which demonstrates how the rollout can overcome the management, technological, financial and social barriers hampering progress. I will also be urging Government to address my concerns at the level of consumer engagement and energy efficiency advice provided to Londoners, as well as the inadequate attention to the needs of vulnerable people as part of the smart meter rollout. The plan must ensure that benefits to consumers are maximised.

Met Support to other Police forces

Unmesh Desai: Has any of the Met’s officers been called upon to provide support in Northern Ireland or Scotland since 2016? If so, please provide a breakdown by year.

The Mayor: There have been no deployments by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) for mutual aid in Northern Ireland or Scotland since 2016.

Attacks on Police at protests

Unmesh Desai: Please provide a breakdown, by protest, of the number of attacks on Met police officers during protests in London since 2016.

The Mayor: Whilst the MPS do record ‘Assault on a Constable’ offences on their crime recording system, it is not possible to answer the question above for the following two reasons:

Cost of Policing Euro 2020

Unmesh Desai: Please could you provide an estimate of how much policing the Euro 2020 tournament games held at Wembley is to cost the Met?

The Mayor: At the time of bidding to host EURO 2020 in London, the GLA worked with the Metropolitan Police Service and UK Government officials to calculate the likely cost of policing the event across the entire period of the tournament (12 June to 12 July 2020). The total cost of policing the tournament in London, including the seven matches taking place at Wembley Stadium and all citywide ancillary activities/Fan Zones, has been estimated at £10.6 million.
Prior to the bid, the GLA secured written agreement from the Home Secretary that policing costs for the event would be met by UK Government, in line with rules around Police Special Grants.

ULEZ 4-month report (2)

Leonie Cooper: Does the ULEZ 4-month report show that London is on track to meet your target to clean up our air and bring pollution into legal limits by 2025?

The Mayor: Yes, the ULEZ 4-month on report shows that the scheme is working well, and more details of the impacts are provided in answer to MQ 2019/19899. But to achieve the goal of meeting legal limits by 2025, expansion of the ULEZ to the North and South circular roads is still needed, alongside the steps I am taking to clean up London’s bus and taxi fleet, reduce emissions from construction as well as other sources.
Merely achieving legal limits is not the end of my ambition, I want London to have the cleanest air of any major world city, which is why I have introduced my own target of achieving WHO targets for PM2.5 by 2030. To do this I will need help from government, which is why I have asked them to not only match my ambitious targets but also to grant me and the London Boroughs the powers and resources we need to tackle all sources of pollution.

Carbon reduction

Tony Arbour: Are we on course to deliver a 40% carbon reduction by 2022?

The Mayor: As part of our aim to reach net zero, the Mayor has adopted a system of five-year carbon budgets from 2018-2032, to create an emissions pathway to 2050. The first Budget covers the period 2018-2022, and a 40 per centreduction corresponds to the midpoint of the Budget (2020). This requires us to reduce emissions to a level of 27 MtCO2 e, from a figure of 30.9 MtCO2 e in 2016, the year for which we have the most recent data.
We are on track to meet the first carbon budget, provided the government forecasts for decarbonisation of the electricity grid (largely by generating more power from large scale renewables like wind farms) are met. This electricity grid decarbonisation is also vital for the Government to meet national carbon budgets. The Committee on Climate Change recently highlighted that current government policies are on track to put the power sector on course to meet its contribution towards the UK’s second carbon budget, including achieving 80TWh of renewable generation.
It is too early to say if we will meet later carbon budgets: 2023- 2027: (requires a 50 per cent reduction) and 2028 – 2032 (requires a 60 per cent reduction) as it will depend on the development of national policies particularly on energy efficiency and heat. However, the Committee on Climate Change noted that Government must set out plans to deliver additional low carbon generation over and above what they have contracted for to 2030 to deliver an ambition for an emissions intensity towards 50 gCO2/kWh.

Deposit Return Scheme (2)

Leonie Cooper: If the Government fails to move forward with their own Deposit Return Scheme, will you investigate setting one up in London, in line with the unanimously agreed Assembly motion?

The Mayor: A Deposit Return Scheme can provide a useful tool in the recycling of certain packaging. Such a scheme should be national in scope if it is to be truly effective
I will continue to review emerging government policy on DRS and the success of the waste policies in my own Environment Strategy with a view to constantly push London’s recycling performance and keep this option open.

Assets of Community value

Nicky Gavron: Would you support the recommendation from a recent Centre for London report with regard to extending the Community Rights established in the Localism Act 2011 and introduce a “Community Right to Buy” for local assets, as exists in Scotland, to make sure that local neighbourhoods are best able to protect their most important buildings?

The Mayor: The Centre for London report provides valuable insights into how communities can be more empowered to shape their future neighbourhoods.
We are currently exploring ways in which Crowdfund London and other forms of innovative social financing can support the activity of community groups. The Crowdfund London programme, now in its 6th round, continues to support projects across London and provides valuable capacity building and skills development for community organisations which is a key element of enabling more community-led regeneration.
We have successfully supported campaigns to protect several of London’s at-risk cultural venues, including the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, and my cultural infrastructure plan highlights Assets of Community Value as a tool to support cultural venues important to London’s communities. The draft London Plan also supports boroughs to consider approving applications to designate social infrastructure, cultural venues and pubs as Assets of Community Value to help protect their loss. This gives community organisations the opportunity to bid for them if they are put up for sale.

Hate Crime

Peter Whittle: How many sworn and warranted Metropolitan Police officers are currently employed on monitoring hate crime on the Internet?

The Mayor: Officers do notspend time proactively monitoring hate crime on the internet, their role is to respond to reports of hate crime as and when they are made.
I have made tackling hate crime – whether on or offline a priority – because no one in London deserves to feel unwelcome or afraid simply because of who they are – and 87 per centof Londoners agree. Police officers are required by law to respond to all reports of hate crime whether they are on or offline and will conduct an appropriate investigation based on the available evidence.
Local officers across London are trained to investigate all forms of hate crime along with many other complex forms of crime. Given that there are sometimes specific investigative requirements in hate crime cases, the Met’s central Hate Crime Hub which is comprised of fiveofficers and includes a specialist capacity to investigate online hate crime, will provide support and advice to local investigations around online hate, and quality assure the timeliness and consistency of those investigations.

Houseboat security (1)

Tom Copley: Will you ensure that the package of private rental reforms for London also include much greater security of tenure and stability for London’s houseboat communities, who currently enjoy even fewer statutory protections that typical private tenants?

The Mayor: I am aware of concerns about rent rises on boat moorings and issues of security of tenure. Whilst I do not have any direct powers over moorings on London’s waterways I will keep this issue under review.
GLA officers will continue to engage with those responsible for managing the waterways to ensure that the interests and concerns of Londoners are represented.

Tree planting

Shaun Bailey: What plans are in place to speed up tree planting within the remainder of your mayoral term?

The Mayor: Since May 2016, I have funded the planting of 175,000 trees, more than the previous Mayor planted over two terms. My funding has supported tree planting in every London borough.
This month I announced plans to plant 95,000 more trees this winter. 40,000 of these trees will be planted through 33 projects supported by my Greener City Fund.
As part of my #PlantATree campaign, I am also giving away 30,000 trees for Londoners to plant at home, and a further 25,000 to community groups. These trees will be delivered in time for National Tree Week (23 November - 1 December), when we will also be supporting mass planting events and encouraging the community to plant trees together. Details can be found at www.london.gov.uk/trees.
More tree planting projects are being planned for the remainder of this mayoral term. This will include announcing plans for new woodlands to be created in the Green Belt. and the planting of thousands of new street trees.

Safer junctions (2)

Caroline Pidgeon: Given your commitment to Vision Zero, how is TfL balancing the needs of bus passengers (on journey time and reliability), private motor vehicles and vulnerable road users in terms of making our most dangerous junctions safer and achieving “Vision Zero”, particularly given that once junctions are redesigned extensively it is unlikely they will be revisited for over a decade?

The Mayor: Every Safer Junctions location is different, and there is no one size fits all approach. However, the primary driver for the programme is to deliver safety improvements for vulnerable road users.
At each location, the changes intended to deliver road danger reduction benefits for vulnerable road users are weighed up against any negative impacts on other road users. As per my Transport Strategy, any negative impacts on buses are given more weight in this analysis than impacts on general traffic. At some locations this may mean that more transformational changes, such as radical changes to a junction layout, are not considered feasible.
As I explained in my answer to Mayor's Question2019/17311, Safer Junction locations – alongside all major junctions on our network - are subject to ongoing monitoring and, where needed, further improvements will continue to be delivered as part of TfL’s rolling safer infrastructure programme. This monitoring enables TfL to prioritise and target its limited funding where it can have the most impact on road danger reduction.

GPS pilot

Shaun Bailey: In February you announced a pilot scheme where the movement of convicts is automatically checked against location of reported crimes using GPS. Please can you provide the following for each month it has been operating:
• The number of times a convict was detected in the vicinity of a crime, by crime type
• The number of times this resulted in a charge, by crime type
• The number of times this resulted in a successful sanction detection, by crime type

The Mayor: The GPS pilot for knife crime offenders was launched in February this year and has now been expanded to 22 boroughs. This pilot is open to cases being released from prison before the end of April 2020, with the last cases being monitored until September 2020.
The pilot, which is being evaluated by the MOPAC Evidence and Insight team, includes crime mapping, the process whereby offenders subject to GPS tagging have their movements automatically checked against reported crimes.
A full evaluation of the pilot is being undertaken, which will include an assessment of crime mapping.

Armed response vehicles

Shaun Bailey: Broken down by year since 2016, how many armed response vehicles does the MPS possess?

The Mayor: The information requested is operationally sensitive and, particularly in light of the current threat, it would not be appropriate to release any such information.

Firefighter Health

David Kurten: It was recently reported that firemen are twice as likely to develop cancer than the population at large (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49811603). What actual figures are you aware of which compare cancer among firemen to the general population?

The Mayor: Two of the most recent reviews of the academic literature in this area were prepared by the Centre for Applied Science and Technology (CAST), which was commissioned by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), and the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM).
Both reports identify firefighters have elevated risk or incidence of some cancers compared to the general population. The reports did not identify an association between a cancer and the firefighter occupation where the relative risk exceeded one-and- a-half times the risk of the general population. They did note higher than normal associations - where relative risk is greater than one but less than one-and-a-half times the risk of the general population - have been reported for some cancers. Both reports have recommended that further research is necessary to understand the potential risks based on current UK firefighting practices.

Hospital Air Pollution (1)

Leonie Cooper: Can you provide an update on the hospital air pollution monitoring scheme? What results have been observed?

The Mayor: As an extension to the Breathe London network the Mayor has funded the installation of air quality sensors at ten of London’s most polluted hospitals. These have been installed at sites including Great Ormond Street Hospital and St Bartholomew’s with installation of all ten to be complete by the end of this month.
Useful insights are already being provided from the installed hospital monitors. For example, when Great Ormond Street Hospital hosted a play street on the afternoon of 20 June 2019 the daily average concentration of NO2 was 23 per cent lower than the average across the other weekdays that week. Data from this, and other sensors in the Breathe London network is available from https://www.breathelondon.org/ .

Houseboat security (2)

Tom Copley: What can you do to help houseboat communities threatened by unscrupulous freeholders and developers that impose arbitrary increases in rents and fees?

The Mayor: Please see my response to Mayor's Question 2019/19851.

Right to Buy fraud

Tom Copley: Following concerning reports in Inside Housing that significant numbers of Right to Buy sales are carried out fraudulently, will you work with authorities and housing associations in London to better prevent the illegal loss of vital social housing?

The Mayor: We must do all we can stop the loss of social housing through fraudulent Right to Buy sales. Councils are best-placed to take the lead on this work, since the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013, which regulates the management of socially rented homes, confers powers to local authorities to intervene in circumstances where social housing fraud might be occurring. This Act also enables councils to prosecute on behalf of their area and from local authority areas. I will ask my team to raise this matter with London Councils to see if there is any support the GLA can give them.

Wheelchair accessible shower rooms

Tom Copley: Following your response to question 2019/17582, are you able to say what proportion of wheelchair accessible buildings have fully accessible roll-in wet room showers?

The Mayor: The Government prescribed wheelchair user dwelling standard M4(3) (as required by London Plan policy) does generally require every M4(3) dwelling to provide, on the entrance storey, a wet room (which may be a WC/ cloakroom or a bathroom) that contains a WC, a basin and an installed level access shower (Approved document M volume 1. Paragraph 3.37).
However, is not currently possible to state exactly the proportion of M4(3) dwellings that provide a wet room installed with a level access shower, as this is dependent on a number of factors including whether the dwelling is built to M4(3)(b) wheelchair accessible dwelling standard, or M4(3)(a) wheelchair adaptable dwelling standard (in which a bath is likely to be provided over a level access shower). Data currently collated does not disaggregate between the two M4(3) dwelling standards.
Going forwards, the new London Development Database will collate data on how many dwellings are built to M4(3)(a) wheelchair adaptable standard and M4(3)(b) wheelchair accessible standard at point of completion, so in the future it will be possible to state with more certainty the proportion of dwellings which are likely to provide a level access shower, although with the caveat that occupants may alter the bathroom accommodation to suit their needs.

LFB fire safety deep-dive (4)

Andrew Dismore: How many of the 20 buildings inspected by London Fire Brigade during its deep-dive into fire safety were a) privately owned, b) publicly owned, and c) other ownership e.g. housing association?

The Mayor: Based on the information available at the time, the tenure type of the properties inspected was:
a) Privately owned - 16
b Local Authority/publically owned -2
c) Other – 2 (1 housing association and 1 mixed)

Advertising in schools (2)

Tom Copley: Of the schools in London with these digital advertising billboards, how many featured the so-called ‘Brexit propaganda’ (https://www.tes.com/news/mp-condemns-brexit-propaganda-schools) referred to by Stella Creasy MP?

The Mayor: This is not information that the Greater London Authority holds. You may want to contact the Department for Education with your question.

Local Housing Allowance

Tom Copley: The Chancellor’s Spending Round in September announced no new funding for the Local Housing Allowance, which has been frozen since 2016. What has the impact of this been on Londoners, and what will the impact be if this continues beyond 2020?

The Mayor: The freeze in LHA rates is one of a series of measures introduced since 2011 that have fuelled arrears, evictions, and homelessness in London. It has forced claimants to put benefits intended to cover living costs towards their rent, and it has made it more challenging and costly for London boroughs and other services to help people threatened with homelessness.
Unless the Government beings LHA rates back in line with market rents, these trends will continue. That is why I am urging the Government to do so, along with the broad coalition of organisations supporting the ‘Cover the cost’ campaign spearheaded by Crisis.

Advertising in schools (1)

Tom Copley: How many schools in London are known to feature the Anomaly Group digital advertising billboards (https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/boris-johnson-quizzed-about-brexit-propaganda-shown-in-primary-schools/25/09/), highlighted by Stella Creasy MP’s question to the Government?

The Mayor: This is not information that the Greater London Authority holds. You may want to contact the Department for Education with your question.

The local highways maintenance challenge fund

Florence Eshalomi: Why are TfL and the London Boroughs excluded from applying to the £198mlocal highways maintenance challenge fund?

The Mayor: It is disappointing that, unlike the rest of the UK, the vast majority of London’s road network receives no sustained central Government funding for maintenance. London is also excluded from a number of ad hoc funding pots, including the local highways maintenance challenge fund.
It is clear that longer-term funding certainty on city region road networks, rather than ad-hoc settlements, would allow more cost-effective and sustainable asset management. That is why I have written to the Chancellor to explain that, to continue to meet demand and support London’s growth, Transport for London urgently needs certainty of long-term, sustained funding, either through the restoration of a grant or by fiscal devolution.
I want to work with Government to urgently agree a settlement which provides long-term funding certainty to support investment our transport network, including London’s roads.

Bluepoint and renewable energy

Caroline Russell: Can you confirm that Source London, the city-wide electric vehicle (EV) charge point network that is operated by Bluepoint London, only uses 100 per cent green renewable energy in their charging points?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) sold Source London in September 2014 and it has since been operated by Bluepoint London. TfL does not hold this information.

Studio and one-bedroom flats (2)

Nicky Gavron: Could you please provide a definition that distinguishes “studio” and “one-bedroom” units in a planning application? Do you have an estimation of the “need” for studio units within the identified need for one-bedroom units?

The Mayor: The glossary used for the London Development Database defines a studio as “A self-contained flat where there is no separate bedroom.”
My Strategic Housing Market Assessment 2017 does not distinguish between studios and one-beds units.

Studio and one-bedroom flats (1)

Nicky Gavron: For planning applications referred to you, would you be able to give the proportion of approved units that are a) studios and b) one-bedroom units for each of the years 2017-18 and 2018-19?

The Mayor: Data on the number of bedrooms in residential developments are held on the London Development Database which includes all permissions that propose new residential units.
Analysis of the LDD data shows that in 2017/18, 7 per centof gross units approved were studios and 35 per centwere 1-bed units. In 2018/19 the provisional data shows that 7 per centof units were studios and 37 per centwere 1-bed units.
Looking just at schemes proposing 150 units or more (as this is the threshold at which residential schemes must be referred to me), in 2017/18, 6 per centof units were studios and 35 per centwere 1-bed units. In 2018/19 the provisional data shows 6 per centwere studios and 37 per centwere 1-bed units.
The figures and explanatory notes are included in the attached document.

Supplementary Planning Guidance on Density

Steve O'Connell: Your answer to Question 2019/8976 on 17 May 2019 indicated you are currently preparing a detailed Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) to accompany the London Plan policy that will provide additional detail on how to effectively optimise housing potential using the design led approach.
Can you indicate when you intend to publish this Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG), providing guidance on assessing appropriate housing and residential densities for new housing developments?

The Mayor: I will publish a draft of the supplementary planning guidance for optimising site capacity through a design-led approach in early 2020.

Solar Together London (3)

Caroline Russell: When will the Solar Together scheme be expanded to include all London boroughs?

The Mayor: All three phases of Solar Together London have been open to every London borough to bid for funding and support. Borough participation is therefore dependent on them having sufficient internal resources and high-level commitment. Despite many boroughs declaring a Climate Emergency, some still struggle with capacity to partner on the scheme after large cuts in central government funding since 2010.
To date 15 boroughs have participated in at least one of the three phases of my scheme. In phase three of the scheme there are 13 boroughs participating, with three boroughs participating fully for the first time. The scheme also continues to accept applications from residents in non-participating boroughs in order to maximise the amount of solar generation in London and help reduce household energy bills.
Government should ensure that well-intentioned boroughs have the mandate and resources available to fully play their part in tackling the Climate Emergency through initiatives such as Solar Together London. It should also be noted that Boroughs can also utilise their carbon offset funds to support carbon saving projects including installation of solar.

Engine idling (1)

Florence Eshalomi: Whatpriorityis given by the Metropolitan Police towards engine idling, given that only 3 such offences were detected in the three years covering 2016, 2017 & 2018?

The Mayor: The Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC) are working with Transport for London’s (TfL) enforcement officers to tackle the problem of engine idling. Given that existing regulations are not effective for enforcement against idling, we are focused on educating drivers and encouraging compliance, and lobbying government for stronger enforcement powers.
Please also see my response to Mayor's Question2019/19677

General Strike for Climate (1)

Susan Hall: How many members of GLA staff took time out of their working day as you encouraged, to attend the General Strike for Climate on Friday 20th September?

The Mayor: Staff participating in the activity did so on their own time. Therefore, numbers of those taking part was not tracked by the GLA.

We Are All Londoners Event

Susan Hall: Could you provide a full cost breakdown for the We Are All Londoners event, held in and around City Hall on 21 September - including but not limited to catering, advertising, facility, security and any other associated costs?

The Mayor: It’s my duty as Mayor to do everything in my power to support all Londoners. This includes supporting the more than one million EU citizens who have made this city their home and are now experiencing significant anxiety due to the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
The free “We Are All Londoners” event I held on 21 September 2019 welcomed over 1200 Londoners to City Hall to celebrate and support London’s European communities. The programme for the sold-out event included the UK’s first EU Settlement Ceremony, European music, food and film, panel discussions, exhibitions, sport and craft activities for children, a language café, and access free immigration advice and support.
The event also provided over 500 Londoners free one-to-one immigration advice on the EU Settlement Scheme. This was delivered by 18 lawyers who provided their time pro bono at a value of £25,000.
The total cost of delivering this event was £48,093. This included:
The budget for this event was in line with the Arrival event we hosted at City Hall in 2018. Similar to the “We Are All Londoners” event, Arrival celebrated and supported a particular community in London – the Windrush generation and Caribbean community in London.

Solar Together London (1)

Caroline Russell: You announced a new phase of Solar Together London in a press release on 18 September 2019. The release states that 624 homes in London have installed solar panels through the scheme. Considering the climate emergency, what are you doing to increase this number?

The Mayor: Despite their acknowledgement of the Climate Emergency, efforts towards tacking it continue to be severely hampered by the Government’s own policies. Their attitude towards solar, including closing the Feed-in Tariff this year, is a prime example of this mismatch between rhetoric and action.
Solar Together London was developed to increase the take-up of small scale solar installations and I decided to continue expanding the scheme, despite the Feed-in Tariff’s closure, in order to demonstrate my commitment to the part that London households can play in tackling the Climate Emergency.
My third phase of Solar Together has launched and is bigger and better than previous phases, with more boroughs fully participating and more direct mail (the main customer acquisition tool) being sent to promote the scheme. The new round includes an option to install battery storage, which we hope will further increase uptake. This activity is supported by more funding allocated to the scheme than previous phases.
However, the reality is that there is a need for more government support, so I will continue to lobby for a national policy framework to help unlock London’s solar energy potential.

London Plan Small Sites Policy

Andrew Boff: Should your small sites policy survive the inspection process would you be supportive of delaying its implementation by at least one year to allow London Boroughs to develop relevant local plans and design codes?

The Mayor: The draft Plan already recognises that the ten-year housing targets may be achieved gradually, and this is why in my Plan I encourage boroughs to set out a realistic, stepped housing delivery target over a ten-year period.

Buses

Tony Arbour: Are there plans to upgrade the buses on K2, 481, 371, 391, 281, N22 Bus Routes to low emission vehicles?

The Mayor: Please see my answer to Mayor's Question 2019/17513.

Missing children and the British Transport Police

Caroline Pidgeon: How is the Met Police working with the British Transport Police to keep missing children safe?

The Mayor: The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) share investigative appeals to locate missing children with the British Transport Police (BPT) on a daily basis. They are also piloting Operation Compass, a joint intelligence led operation to reduce risks to exploited children and have worked together to safeguard individuals exploited through County Lines by working with the Rescue and Response project. At a strategic level, the Met facilitates effective partnership working with the BTP through the London Vulnerability Leads Forum and the NPCC Missing Persons working group.

Mayor's fund for London

Andrew Boff: Please provide a list of all donors and the amounts of all donations to the Mayor's fund for London from January 2016?

The Mayor: The Mayor’s Fund for London is an independent charity, of which the Mayor is Patron. This is a strictly ‘non-executive’ role, and neither I nor the Greater London Authority are involved in the Mayor’s Fund’s day-to-day operations. As such, neither I nor the GLA holds the information requested. Further information can be obtained through contacting the charity at [emailprotected]

Mayor's Press Office

Andrew Boff: For each of the previous 5 years, what was the total cost of the Mayor's press office?

The Mayor: The total cost of the Mayor’s Press office for each of the previous 5 years is as follows. This includes the budget for the shared service media monitoring contract provided to the Mayor and the London Assembly, TfL, Crossrail and the Met Police.
Financial Year
Total Spend
2018-19
920,967.95
2017-18
833,005.57
2016-17
824,360.79
2015-16
732,537.42
2014-15
725,070.78

Buses

Tony Arbour: What are the Euro emission standards of the buses that serve on the K2, 481, 371, 391, 281, N22 bus routes?

The Mayor: All buses on routes K2, 481, 391, 281 and N22 meet the Ultra Low Emission Zone Euro VI standard. Buses on route 371 are currently being retrofitted to the same standard, from Euro IV to Euro VI, with the continuing conversion to be complete by the end of 2019. The entire bus fleet will meet Euro VI emissions or better in October 2020.

Mayor's fund for London (2)

Andrew Boff: Please provide a list of all funds that have been donated or gifted to the GLA from the Mayor's Fund for London from January 2016 and what their purpose was?

The Mayor: The Greater London Authority has received £652,052 from the Mayor’s Fund for London since January 2016 as approved by: MD2422, MD2138, MD1519, and DD2025. These decision forms set out the purpose of the GLA receiving these funds.

A Free Port in London

Florence Eshalomi: Would you support an application by the Port of London to become a free port (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/trade-secretary-announces-freeports-advisory-panel-will-ensure-uk-is-ready-to-trade-post-brexit?gator_td=3aFAGAptT%2bXpkvFXgqijaGQusbEnk8m1xkTvKk9%2b792ofUJ6l4Yacsw6uEA%2frHERrNNdorQjogHpOEe9PVwfQEpD52g24LFSXSnVwmob559ci6sfoSwm4WVV%2fv0XQYBQCmIeag2o0IjzTDHXLTWXVLuT9VDZCd3zZAPwQNRY73DHvXb%2fl35%2bxZzhvOdK9oIX)? Please give your reasons.

The Mayor: No amount of UK ‘free ports’ will be an adequate substitute for the existing benefits of the current customs union and single market obtained through EU membership. The best way to ensure trade is successful in London and the United Kingdom is to maintain access to the single market.
I will continue to work closely with the Port of London Authority, its partners and the wider south-east to ensure that any future plans align with my vision to deliver good growth for London that is economically and socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable.
Any future plans for a free port would be closely scrutinised to assess any impacts on jobs, business, transport, air quality and the environment in London.

E-Cigarettes (2)

Tony Devenish: Further to my question (2018/5500) - has this policy been reviewed and what was the outcome?

The Mayor: Transport for London is currently reviewing its overall approach to vaping advertising.I will ask them to let you know the outcome once decided.

Housing association re-lettings

Tom Copley: Please provide figures from all housing association landlords in London showing how many social rented homes have been re-let, once empty, not at social rents, but as some kind of sub-market, affordable tenure in each of the last five years? If such figures are not currently available, please could you request them from all housing associations?

The Mayor: The GLA publishes statistics on the number of social rented homes 'converted' to Affordable Rent by affordable housing providers each year. The AHP Conversions Report contains information on conversions reported to the Regulator of Social Housing and is available here: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-land/increasing-housing-supply/affordable-housing-statistics
The number of conversions from social rent to Affordable Rent peaked at 4,293 in 2012/13. In September 2016 the Mayor announced that no further conversions to Affordable Rent would be approved under his new Affordable Homes Programme. Any conversions subsequently recorded are the result of previous approvals.
In 2018/19 the number of conversions from social rent to Affordable Rent fell to 236.

HS2

Navin Shah: On the serious threat of cancellation faced by HS2 you have said to me (at a recent Question Time) that you will be working with the Prime Minister for progress and resourcing of the HS2. How do you plan to approach the recent review launched by the government with a ‘go or no go’ decision by the end of the year?

The Mayor: Please see my response to Mayor’s Question 2019/17718

Homes for later living (2)

Onkar Sahota: How many homes for supported living for older people does the new London Plan forecast will be required in each borough, in each year from 2020 to 2024?

The Mayor: Research commissioned to inform the draft Plan identified a total potential demand in London across all tenures for just over 4,000 specialist older persons units a year between 2017 and 2029. Borough level benchmarks are provided in Table 4.4 of the draft London Plan and are designed to inform local-level assessments of specialist housing need, and the supporting text to Policy H15 states that boroughs should plan proactively to meet the identified need for older persons accommodation.

Utilities under Pavements

Florence Eshalomi: The DfT haveproposeda presumption in favour of pavements rather than the road when it comes to burying utilities. What effect will such a change have on a) road users, b) road congestion and c) pavement users?

The Mayor: The Department for Transport’s (DfT) proposal includes a new type of condition for permit schemes on the location of utility apparatus. The proposed changes would allow permit authorities such as Transport for London (TfL) to make it a condition of a granted street works permit that where ‘possible and practical’, new utility apparatus should be placed under the footway, footpath or verge.
The density of pedestrian movements, the already severely congested nature of utility services beneath London’s footways and the need to safeguard the safety of pedestrians means that an assumption of ‘pavement first’ would not always be appropriate in London.Whether excavating the pavement or carriageway, TfL requires works promotors to provide safe and convenient routes for all road users around the work site. All highway authorities have a duty under the Traffic Management Act to minimise the impact of works to all road users. There is also a concern that encouraging additional works on footways would require those excavating the footway to provide alternative pedestrian provision in the carriageway, negating the intended benefit.
TfL have responded to the consultation, which closed on 13 September 2019.

Personal Light Electric Vehicles

Florence Eshalomi: How manyPersonal Light Electric Vehiclesare currently registered in London?

The Mayor: Transport for London (TfL) does not recognise Personal Light Electric Vehicles as a defined vehicular category. However, the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders’ data for the number of quadracycles (passenger vehicles with an unladen weight not exceeding 450kg) registered to postcode areas in Greater London indicates a total of 454 electrically powered quadracycles registered at the beginning of 2018. This is the most recent dataset of this type held by TfL.

Electric vehicle smart charging

Florence Eshalomi: How do the Governmentsproposalsfor Electric Vehicle Smart Charging compare to your new draft London plan policies?

The Mayor: London’s Environment Strategy sets out an objective for developing smart, integrated energy systems utilising local and renewable resources. Furthermore, London’s new Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Delivery Plan identifies an explicit need to explore alternative and smart power supply options, such as battery storage, so that we can accelerate the rollout of charge points in the capital.
The Government has set out a series of proposals to maximise the use of smart charging technologies, which aims to support the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). These proposals are not directly comparable to the planning policies of the draft London Plan, which support the delivery of physical EV charging infrastructure, however, the use of smart charging technologies complements the Plan’s policies by helping to manage the impact of increased EV use (for example by shifting the demand for electricity out of peak hours).

SEND in schools

Fiona Twycross: A report from London Councils has found that “A significant number of schools across London are engaging in poor admissions practice to informally exclude [SEND] pupils from even starting at their school”. What can you do to support local councils in tackling this issue?

The Mayor: Refusing or resisting admission to children whose special educational needs could be accommodated is unacceptable and unlawful. I applaud London Councils for highlighting this issue and will support them by continuing to advocate for inclusion, and by challenging poor practice.
Earlier this year I highlighted the issue of schools ‘off-rolling’ young people with SEND in my London Post-16 SEND Review and called on the Prime Minister to reverse damaging cuts to early intervention services and give schools the resources they need to support young people.
I am supporting schools to improve and share inclusive practice through the Schools for Success programme, which identifies schools that are supporting low prior attaining pupils effectively and are willing to share learning. This has included convening the London education community to share SEND expertise at a GLA and Whole School SEND seminar on 14 October, which had a focus on providing the right early support for SEND pupils and reducing the risk of exclusion.

Metropolitan Police Service getting procedures

Joanne McCartney: A recent HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) report highlighted issues at many police forces, including the Metropolitan Police Service, with vetting procedures. What action has the MPS taken in response?

The Mayor: Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) vetting processes are very thorough and wide-ranging. All officers and staff are security cleared when they join the organisation.
This vetting should be repeated after 10 years. The MPS is currently recruiting at pace and has made the decision to prioritise the vetting of new officers to grow numbers as quickly as possible. This means that some other cases will take longer, including the re-vetting of existing staff, which form much of the backlog.
I have provided additional funding to the MPS to increase the number of staff in its vetting unit and reduce the backlog.
The MPS strategic vetting board coordinates and manages efforts to reduce the backlog, drive improvements and lead a risk-based approach to vetting priorities. These efforts are proving successful and the backlog continues to steadily decline.

Housing for Domestic Violence Survivors

Joanne McCartney: I am very pleased you are providing housing for domestic violence survivors. What is the timescale for delivery of these much needed homes?

The Mayor: Through my £50m ‘Move On’ programme, I am making capital and revenue funding available to deliver homes and support for survivors of domestic abuse leaving domestic violence refuges as well as rough sleepers leaving hostels. The first two contracts through this programme, totalling up to £25m, have now been awarded to providers. All homes will be started by 31 March 2021, with the first ones becoming available this autumn. In addition, funding from my £30m Homelessness Change Programme can be used to deliver new and redevelop existing refuges, for schemes that start on site by March 2022.

Flood risks in London

Caroline Pidgeon: The London Assembly Environment Committee in April 2014 published a report which contained the recommendation: “The operation of the Barrier and expectations for future upgrades should be reviewed in light of the record number of closures required in the winter of 2013/14."Please set out what steps are currently being undertaken to assess the need of a replacement or a new Thames Barrier to prevent flooding in London.

The Mayor: The Thames Estuary 2100 (TE2100) Plan puts in place the strategy for managing tidal flood risk in the Thames estuary out to 2100. The Plan responds to different scenarios for sea level risk and other projected changes to the climate and weather. The current plan, accounts for recently announced forecasts in sea level rise, which say it could rise up to 2.3 metres by 2100. The Environment Agency developed the Plan and is responsible for managing flooding in London and the rest of England.
The TE2100 Plan predicts a new Thames Barrier will be needed in the 2070s.The Plan is undergoing a 10-year review in 2020 where the latest monitoring data and evidence will be used to re-assess the timeline for a new barrier, and to ensure the Plan remains fit for purpose to protect London in future.My officers will work with the Environment Agency to support this review. I have also been working closely with the Environment Agency, who own and operate the existing Thames Barrier to safeguard sites outside of London for a future barrier. Together with the Environment Agency and Port of London Authority I have successfully called on Thurrock Council to safeguard land for the barrier whilst allowing for redevelopment in the area.

London Latin Community

Caroline Pidgeon: Will you agree to meet with representatives of the London’s Latin community during Amigo month to discuss matters of concern, especially relating to developments at Seven Sisters?

The Mayor: In February this year the Secretary of State confirmed a CPO relating to the Seven Sisters regeneration scheme, which includes the indoor market known as the Latin Village. A claim challenging this decision was recently heard on the 8 and 9 October. In view of the current legal proceedings I think it would be inappropriate for me to discuss the developments at Seven Sisters.
The Latin Village is unique and I am pleased the Seven Sisters regeneration programme includes providing the indoor market traders with a new home on the same site it occupies now. If and when the scheme goes ahead, I encourage the council to do all it can working with the traders to make the new market just as unique.

Climbing wall at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre

Caroline Pidgeon: Mount Palace, the operators of the climbing wall at the sports centre have made strenuous efforts to engage with the GLA over its future operation but have not had a response. The GLA seems to have no interest in their proposal. Please can you ensure that GLA Land and Property will engage with Mount Palace and give their proposal serious consideration?

The Mayor: Consultation and engagement work with National Sports Centre (NSC) users over the past 18 months has gathered suggestions and ideas about the future use and development of the NSC, especially in relation to encouraging active lifestyles and wider participation in sports.
Mount Palace and their users have been engaged through this process. Officers from my Regeneration and Economic Development team have previously met with the Mount Palace operators to discuss their ambitions for the future of the climbing club, most recently in late September. My officers have also previously shared with Mount Palace potential funding opportunities for their community programme and will continue to keep them informed of project progress.
As work continues, further consultation with key stakeholders, park and NSC users will inform what facilities are required to best support the future of the centre, so it continues to serve the needs of sporting and local communities.

Homes for later living (1)

Onkar Sahota: How many homes in London for supported living for older people have been a) given planning permission and b) completed in each year since 2012? Please break this data down by borough.

The Mayor: The London Development Database (LDD) collates data on the number of dwellings which would be classified as ‘specialist older persons housing’; both those given consent and those completed. This data is provided for the years 2012 onwards for both approvals and completions, broken down by borough in ‘Appendix for homes for later living (1) Table 1 (approvals) Table 2 (completions).